A Fishy Situation
by Aerith The Evenstar
Summary: Sophia doesn't know how to swim. Her family knows this. However, that didn't stop her little brother from pushing her into the pool as a prank. Now she finds herself in Zora's Domain.
1. Drowning

ATE: Hey, everyone! After spending time playing Breath of the Wild, I wanted to write a story...or two. Not only have I written this story, but I've written another one. Both stories are actually over on AO3, but I soon came to the decision to post them here on this site for others to enjoy. The OC in this story is human (the image used for this story is what I image her to look like, though her hair starts out a shorter than shown).

For now, enjoy A Fishy Situation.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

Summary: Sophia doesn't know how to swim. Her family knows this. However, that didn't stop her little brother from pushing her into the pool as a prank. Now she finds herself in Zora's Domain.

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 **A Fishy Situation**

~*~Chapter 1~*~

She sat in the reclined lawn chair, completely relaxed as she soaked up the sun's rays. Her eyes were shut behind the sunglasses she wore as the sound of her family having fun in the pool reached her ears. She was grateful for her parents' choice of getting a pool constructed in their backyard; she wouldn't have to worry about being dragged to the public pool.

She shrieked when cold water was dumped on her and she ripped off her sunglasses to reveal brown eyes filled with indignation as her gaze fell on the culprit behind the crime. Her younger brother only laughed at her suffering, and she wished (like countless other times) that her gaze could turn him into dust.

"Nate!" She yelled at him.

He continued to laugh as she chased after him, only to come to an abrupt halt at the edge of the pool all while he tainted her from the deep end of the pool. And he knew she couldn't do a thing to him.

Because she didn't know how to swim.

She huffed at this, both due to her inability to get in the water and being unable to get back at Nate for his prank. Nearby she could hear her parents' laughter.

"Lighten up, Sophie. Nate's just having fun." Her mom told her.

"Yeah, Sophie! Lighten up!" Nate taunted.

"Keep going and see where it gets you, brat! I dare you!" She snapped, not even bothering to look in his direction.

"Sophia Marie Fahey!"

Sophia backed down at this, albeit begrudgingly. She knew she was in trouble as soon as the full name was used.

"So Nate dumps water on me, and _I'm_ the one in trouble?" She questioned. "How is that even fair? You just let him get away—"

She was unable to finish when she was suddenly shoved into the pool, and as she flailed her arms in the deep water she spotted Nate standing where she had been just a few seconds ago. Sophia struggled to keep her head above the surface, but she was failing miserably as she started to sink. At first she could hear her parents' frantic voices muffled by the water surrounding her, but then they suddenly disappeared.

She also realized that she had yet to touch the bottom of the pool and began to panic. Against her better judgment Sophia opened her eyes, but instead of seeing the tiled walls of the pool (or feeling her eyes burn) there was a dark abyss surround her on all sides, save for the rays of light that managed to filter through from far above her.

Sophia once again struggled to get to the surface, but all it ended up doing was accidentally shallowing water (that clearly didn't contain a hint of chlorine in it) from being unable to hold her breath any longer, along with tiring herself out. So this was how it ended, being shoved into the pool by her little brother and drowning in deep water. Though how she ended up in a body of fresh water was beyond her.

Before her eyes shut for the last time, Sophia thought she saw a flash of red. But it didn't matter now.

She was as good as dead.

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ATE: That's it for the first chapter. Let me know what you think!


	2. Heaven?

ATE: Hey everyone! Since I got back from MetroCon I wanted to post this chapter up. I'd like to thank **Nintendoborn** and **Kira-Katashi** for their reviews, along with everyone else that has read this story up to this point. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

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~*~Chapter 2~*~

Voices…

She could hear voices, though the words were indiscernible and distant.

Sophia was confused by this. How was she able to hear voices? Wasn't she dead? Maybe she was in heaven or some sort of afterlife and she was hearing angels. That would explain the voices.

She tried to open her eyes, but they didn't seem to want to comply; she wasn't even able to twitch her finger. You're not supposed to feel tired in the afterlife, are you? Assuming you could feel tired. Maybe it was how she died that left her in such a state in to begin with. Maybe there was a recovery time whenever someone new arrived in the afterlife depending on how a person died.

There wasn't much she could do in her state, so she settled with listening to the voices, finding some comfort in knowing she wasn't alone (even if her mind couldn't register the words spoken around her). She had no way of knowing how much time had passed (let alone how long she remained in her current condition), but she had a feeling that it was long enough to become familiar to some of the voices, along with some newer ones that would appear in passing.

There was one familiar voice that seemed to show up every now and then, having a kind and soft-spoken quality to it and, in a way, seemed to direct their words to her. At least that's what she thought (she could be wrong). At one point it felt like someone took hold her hand (as if to be supportive) and as soon as that happened she was suddenly able to make out words spoken in a feminine voice.

"…I know you can pull through this…" The voice told her, though somewhat distant. "…I would like to meet you once you awaken…"

Sophia wished she could meet this person and wanted to respond to the voice in some way and open her eyes, but her eyelids felt so heavy. Maybe there was another way… She tried to squeeze the hand that held hers, and she mentally cheered when she managed to twitch her fingers a bit. The person noticed this and seemed to share her sentiment as well.

"I knew you could do it. Try to open your eyes."

The voice was clearer now. Maybe she was getting closer to the waking world (so to speak) and this voice seemed to be guiding her in the right direction. Sophia made another attempt to open her eyes again, fighting to lift her eyelids with all her willpower. It seemed like hours had passed before she finally managed to crack her eyes open, though what her waking eyes saw wasn't what she expected.

The voice that had been encouraging her this whole time was a pretty woman, but her appearance…fish-like (for lack of better words). From what she could see, the red scales that covered most of her body (there were white scales as well) had a sheen as it reflected the light, and her body was adorned with elaborate silver jewelry set with turquoise colored stones. To complete her appearance was a blue cloth wrapped around her torso like a sash with a brooch to hold it in place. Initially Sophia would've panicked, but seeing the soft look in the woman's gold eyes helped to calm her down.

If she was in heaven, did that make this woman an angel? An angel…fish?

' _Angelfish? Really?_ ' She mentally groaned at herself.

"I'm so glad that you're finally awake. My name is Mipha." The woman introduced, giving her a kind smile.

She hadn't expected Mipha to introduce herself, and that left her to do the same as well in turn.

' _I don't want to be rude._ '

"…M…" She cringed, not because of the soreness of her throat (which she only now noticed), but because her voice was so hoarse. Never had her voice sounded so weak before.

She watched as Mipha move to grab a cup that rested on a nearby table, as well as the silver pitcher as she filled the cup. She then slid an underneath her back and Sophia soon found herself supported in an upright position.

"This should help with the soreness." Mipha told her, bringing the cup to her lips and tilting it forward to help her drink. It was as soon as the cool water touched her tongue that Sophia realized just how thirsty she was and found herself greedily drinking from the cup. "Careful. Don't drink too fast."

Sophia made an effort to drink slower (which wasn't easy) and eventually she managed to drain the rest of the water in the cup before Mipha placed it back on the nearby table. She would admit that the water helped soothe her sore throat and she tried again to speak.

"…My n _Ame_ …is So- _phi_ -a…" She managed to get out despite her voice cracking a bit. At least she was able to speak. "…Is this…hea-ven…? …The after _life_ …?"

She watched as Mipha seemed to furrow her brows.

"The afterlife? Do you believe yourself to be dead?" She asked.

Sophia nodded at this, thinking it was best to limit how much she talked if she could help it.

"You're not dead, though you would have drowned had I not saved you when I did."

"…How long?"

"You've slept for the last three days." Mipha then helped Sophia to lay back down on the bed she only now realized she'd been resting in. "It would do you good to rest for now and recover your strength. You will be cared for while you do so, and your questions will be answered in due time."

Sophia sighed, though there wasn't much she could do at this point.

"Thank you…" She whispered before falling asleep.

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ATE: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please let me know what you think (feedback is appreciated)! ;D


	3. Bathophobia

ATE: Alright, here's another chapter for you guys! I'd like to thank **Nintendoborn** for their review of the previous chapter, as well as everyone reading. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

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~*~Chapter 3~*~

Much to Sophia's delight, Mipha visited the next day, and as she was provided some food (that turned out to be some sort of creamy soup with bits of fish in it; Sophia was grateful that she was able to sit up) the woman was able to explain some things to her. It turned out that Mipha was a member of an aquatic race known as the Zora, and that their current location was their home, Zora's Domain.

"…How did you know I was drowning…?" Sophia asked, her voice not sounding as quiet as yesterday, though still somewhat hoarse.

"We didn't, not at first. A light appeared that day in the waters below Zora's Domain. We didn't know what was going on until someone spotted you. The guards were taking too long to decide what to do and I took it upon myself to save you." Mipha told her. "So, what is it like where you are from?"

Sophia, who had taken a spoonful of the remaining soup, suddenly started choking, and the Zora woman had to jump in to help calm her coughing fit.

"…W-where I'm from…?" She managed to sputter out.

"You thought you were in the afterlife, and seeing you're unfamiliar with most of the terms I've mentioned to you, I can only assume you are not from anywhere in Hyrule. If not that, then some sort of otherworld."

She thought on this. True, she wasn't familiar with the things Mipha spoke to her about, and the name Hyrule didn't ring any bells, either. In conclusion, this was probably the case.

"…You wouldn't be wrong… …I'm not from here…" Sophia took a deep breath before continuing. "…From what I can see things are different here…compared to where I'm from… …Everything here is so unreal…like something out of a fantasy book…"

"I see." Mipha nodded, seeming to take in what she had to say. "And is it common for women of your world to wear such attire as yours?"

At this Sophia blushed, knowing that she was referring to the teal bikini she still wore.

"…N-no, no…it's not something worn on a daily basis… …It's called a swimsuit, and it's mainly worn when people go swimming…" She explained. "…This is only one type of swimsuit called a bikini…and there are different types for both male and female…"

"It would suffice to say that you're in need of a change of clothes." Mipha then stood up from the chair she had been sitting in. "I will return with something appropriate for you to wear. I won't be gone for long."

Sophia was left alone as she watched Mipha leave the room she'd been staying in for the last few days. There wasn't much for her to do, and having finished the soup she'd been given (she was glad the bedside table was close enough for her to place the bowl on top of it) she was left with nothing.

Guess that left her with her thoughts.

Although, now that she had time to think, she realized that she hadn't seen what the rest of Zora's Domain looked like aside from the room she was currently in, and Mipha was the only Zora she knew of so far. The Zora woman had mentioned her appearing in the water, so did that mean that Zora's Domain was built on some lake or something?

She ran her fingers through her short chestnut brown hair, grimacing slightly at the oily texture she felt. Speaking about water, she wondered if she'd be able to get a bath once she was released from bedrest? Maybe she'd be able to if she were to ask nicely.

Sophia's thoughts were interrupted by the pitter-patter of quick footsteps, followed by a flash of red that dove underneath the bed she was in. Overall she was left speechless by what she witnessed (or lack thereof).

"Don't tell anyone I'm here!" A young voice told her in a hushed tone.

Before she could even respond she heard another set of footsteps enter the room, causing her to turn her attention to whoever it was. The person turned out to be a Zora (at least she presumed it was), thought their appearance was vastly different than Mipha. For one, this person was a greenish color, along with their head resembling that of a manta ray. It must've been a Zora thing to wear silver crafted jewelry since the person was adorning them.

"Oh, the human…" The person (who turned out to be a male) said, seeming to frown upon seeing her. He then cleared his throat. "Pardon the intrusion, but have you by any chance seen a young Zora boy run by here?"

At first Sophia was confused by this and wondered what this male Zora meant, but then she remembered the red flash and the young voice she heard not that long ago.

So that explained who was hiding under the bed.

"…No, sir…" She replied, deciding it was best to be polite. "…I haven't seen anyone…"

Technically she wasn't lying since she hadn't been able to get a good look of the boy when he rushed into her room, so as far as she knew it could've been someone else. How could she confirm what she hadn't been able to see?

The Zora seemed to get annoyed upon hearing her response, likely since it meant he'd have to continue his search.

"I see… I'll take my leave." The Zora proceeded to exit her room, but not before grumbling, "I swear, when I find that boy…"

Sophia had to resist the urge to laugh when she heard that, knowing it would give her away. When she felt it was safe, she allowed her left arm to hang off the side of the bed.

"Is he gone?" The voice asked.

"Yes…" She answered.

As quickly as she responded, the person crawled out from underneath her bed to reveal what she believed to be a Zora child, the protrusions on his head resembling the appearance of a hammerhead shark (from what she could see of the few Zoras she'd encountered, it seemed that they all had protrusions that made it look like they either had sharks on their heads or they looked as such), the top of it having a silver head piece with a black feather attached. Like with Mipha, the silver choker necklace and belt the young Zora wore contrasted with the red scales that covered his body.

"I thought he would never leave." The Zora boy commented, his voice sounding British (now that she thought about it, both Mipha and the older Zora spoke in British accents as well; did that mean it was the same for other Zoras?). She soon found large gold eyes gazing up at her. "Thank you for not telling him I was here."

Sophia didn't know what to say to the boy, her mind seeming to draw a blank at that moment. But then her mind managed to form a thought:

' _He's so freaking adorable!_ '

As soon as that thought popped into her head, more similar to it began to follow as she mentally gushed over the cuteness that was the Zora boy before her. Like, he was right up there with kittens!

"Miss? Are you alright?"

She was pulled from her thoughts upon hearing the boy's question and she shook her head to clear her mind.

"…Y-yeah, I'm fine…" She responded. "Why were you hiding…?"

"Muzu's lessons were getting dull, and I wanted to go play instead." So the older Zora earlier was this Muzu he was referring to. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Sidon, the Zora prince!"

The pose the boy made seemed to complete the introduction, flexing his left arm as he gave her a smile that revealed all his sharp shark-like teeth. Normally the shark teeth would terrify her, but—

Did she just see a sparkle on his tooth? And did she just hear a ding as well?

What the actual f—

"Are you sure you're well?" Sidon suddenly asked.

Sophia blushed at this, embarrassed that she hadn't even given him a response.

"S-sorry…" She gave him a sheepish smile. "…I'm Sophia…"

"Sophia? What a lovely name!"

' _Oh god, shark-boy! Stop being so freaking cute!_ ' She thought.

"So you're the human my sister has been talking about."

This caught her attention.

"Your sister? Who would that be?"

"Sidon!"

Sophia's head whipped around in the direction of the voice in time to see Mipha enter the room, having returned with a bundle of cloth.

"What are you doing here?" The female Zora asked as she approached the bed. "If I'm not mistaken, you should be tending to your studies."

"But sister! Muzu's lessons are boring." Sidon whined.

Wait! Mipha was Sidon's sister?

"Even so, it is still important for you to learn while you're able to if you desire to help our people prosper." Mipha reasoned.

If Sidon was prince of the Zora, then that meant—

"You're royalty?" Sophia suddenly found herself saying.

Mipha and Sidon turned their attention to her, and she couldn't help the embarrassment as she blushed as a result. It was at that moment when she noticed the resemblance between the two siblings.

"You would be correct, Sophia." Mipha gave her a smile. "I apologize for not telling you sooner."

"…It's fine, I just didn't expect that to be the case."

"I'm glad. Know that you needn't treat me any differently. I searched for something suitable for you to wear, but all I could find was this."

Mipha held out the bundle she'd been holding and Sophia took it from her. She unwrapped it, only to find that it was just a cloth, most likely to be useful as a blanket or bedsheet. Though a little disappointed at first, an idea soon came to her.

"I know it's not much, but I'm sure that something more adequate can be obtained given some time." The female Zora continued.

"This is fine, Mipha. I can work with this." Sophia said before turning to her. "I hate to ask, but is it possible for me to get a bath or something?"

It was quiet and she shifted uncomfortably in place as it seemed to stretch out.

"…I mean, if it's not too much to ask…?" She added nervously.

"It would be no trouble at all. However, I'm concerned as to your ability to walk."

"We can help her if she has trouble walking, right Mipha?" Sidon asked, seeming excited.

She watched as Mipha gave her younger brother a warm smile.

"I suppose that may be our only option." Mipha agreed.

Sidon ran over to Mipha's side as his older sister helped Sophia out of the bed. It didn't come as any surprise when she found her legs having trouble supporting her weight, but thankfully the two Zoras were able to help. While Mipha (who was slightly taller than Sophia) supported most of her weight, Sidon was on her other side with a hold on her hand (since he only came a few inches below her waist) as his way of helping her. At first she thought the skin on Mipha's arm would be rough or scaly (like a snake), but she was surprised to find that it was a certain smoothness to it. It was interesting to say the least.

Keeping a hold of the bedsheet (she might as well call it that) Sophia was captivated by her surroundings as soon as they left the room, her head turning this way and that as she took everything in. They seemed to be in a hallway (from what she could tell) that had an open window lined with railing on their left while to their right was mere walls with the occasional door or open threshold. From what she could see of the outside view, she saw what she believed to be some sort of city constructed from what seemed to be some sort of whitish stone, along with some areas having water flowing through. She'd guessed correctly about the place being built on a lake since she could see hints of it below.

She had never seen anything like this before. Just like something out of a fantasy novel or game.

Sophia had been so distracted that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was being led, and it wasn't until Mipha announced the arrival at their destination that she was made aware of this fact.

The room was spacious, but the main feature was what caused her face to pale.

A giant pool.

One that took up the majority of the room.

Sidon let out a cry of joy as he dove into the water, surfacing as he had fun swimming around in the large pool. She would've smiled at the carefree sight if it wasn't for the fact that she was scared.

Scratch that. She was terrified.

"Sophia? Are you alright?" Mipha asked, noticing something was wrong with her.

She didn't trust herself to answer and started shaking her head profusely. Everything was quiet (including Sidon, who had stopped swimming when he'd noticed what was going on) as she stood with the support of Mipha, clutching the bedsheet in a death grip. She couldn't stop herself from remembering what happened before she ended up here, reliving the memory of Nate pushing her into the family pool, how her limbs flailed about as she struggled to get her head above the water, how she'd almost drown if Mipha hadn't saved her.

"Sophia! Calm down!"

Sophia found herself back in the pool room sitting on the floor as Mipha's arms were wrapped around her in an attempt to comfort her, and it was at that moment she realized she was shaking.

Oh god… Why was she reacting so badly like this? She wasn't even in the water and she was already freaking out!

"It's okay. Just breathe." Mipha told her, her voice soothing. "You're safe."

She tried doing what she was told, and eventually she was able to calm down enough to be rational. Mipha was right. She was safe.

"…I-I'm so sorry…" She whispered.

"All is well, Sophia. Why were you scared?"

She sighed, realizing she had to tell the female Zora.

"…I can't swim." She admitted. "It doesn't help that I almost drowned last time."

"What happened?"

"My family had a pool built in the back of our home, but I never went swimming in it. My little brother played a prank on me and when I was distracted he pushed me in." She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "That must've been how I ended up here…"

"But you're safe now." Sidon spoke up, causing Sophia and Mipha to turn to where he was floating in the water. "You don't have to worry about drowning as long as Mipha and I are here."

"He isn't wrong." Mipha agreed. "We would never allow anything to happen while you remain in our care."

Sophia was more than aware that Mipha and Sidon wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, but she was still hesitant to go in the water. She was very tempted to say 'screw it' and forget the idea of getting a bath, but she knew better.

So it was either get in the water and hope for the best, or go days without a bath and risk offending someone with her stench.

Choices, choices…

"…Fine. I'll get in…" She said in a defeated tone.

Mipha helped Sophia over to the edge of the pool, the female Zora slipping into the water before turning to her with arms stretched out towards her. She gulped, knowing full well that she was trusting the Zora siblings with her life (maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but that's how it felt). Keeping her bikini on, she placed the bedsheet off to the side before grabbing hold of Mipha's arms.

"I'm trusting you… Both of you…" She added.

With that Sophia was carefully pulled into the water and she tried her best not to panic as she realized how deep the pool was (it would've come up to her chin if she stood on her toes, but seeing as she really couldn't do that…). Thankfully, Mipha was there to support her weight in the water, helping to keep her from sinking.

Surprisingly, the water was pleasantly warm. At least that was a plus.

Huh, this didn't seem so bad…

"Sophia. I want to let you know that I'll need to dip your head underneath the water so that I can soak your hair." Mipha suddenly said.

WHAT?!

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no-!

"Would it help if held your hand?" Sidon asked, having swam over to the two girls.

' _No, it really won't help._ '

At least that's what she wanted to say, though she had a feeling that wouldn't be the right answer to give him seeing as the Zora boy genuinely wanted to help her. She didn't like the idea of lying, but there wasn't much choice if she wanted to spare his feelings. Without saying anything Sophia held a hand out to Sidon, and she watched as his face lit up before he took the offered hand. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Mipha.

"…I'm ready." She managed to get out.

Mipha nodded at this.

"Hold your breath." The female Zora instructed.

Sophia did as she was told before Mipha dunked her head underneath the water, and she was about to start panicking when she remembered the small hand she held.

' _Okay, Sophie, focus on the hand… Focus on the hand…!_ ' She kept telling herself.

Suddenly she was pulled up out of the water and she gasp, gulping in as much oxygen as she could. She couldn't help but dislike the fact she was like this, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

After all, a phobia was an irrational fear.

"You did well, Sophia. We can now get you out of the water." Mipha declared.

She mentally cheered as soon as she was given this news and Mipha helped her out of the pool. As she sat at the end with her hair dripping water she turned to Sidon and smiled as he climbed out.

"Thank you, little Sidon. I appreciate your help." She said.

"You are most welcome!"

She couldn't help but giggle at the pose he seemed to favor doing.

' _Too. Freaking. Adorable._ '

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ATE: Explanation time!

(1) Creamy Soup With Fish Bits: Believe it or not, this is actually Creamy Seafood Soup. Sounds good!

(2) Sophia's Bikini: Sophia's still wearing the bikini from the first chapter. I kept imagining it as being teal. I also wouldn't think that swimsuits would be commonplace in Hyrule.

(3) Young Sidon: I couldn't help myself with including a younger Prince Sidon. The image I used as a reference of his appearance is this (without the spaces and the need to add a bit in): w w w . pin terest /pin/ 294 211 788 147 870 711 /

(4) Sparkling Tooth: I had to bring attention to this! Plus, I was reminded of one of the Doctor Who Christmas Specials (Voyage of the Damned) when I was writing that in.

(5) Sophia's Phobia: I know that I called the chapter "Bathophobia" (fear of depths of any kind, ranging from deep water or falling from a great height), but it's more like Sophia has aquaphobia (doesn't help that she almost drowned back in the first chapter, which might've made it worse). It's more like she's afraid of going into any form of water that goes above her waist, if that makes any sense.

I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you thought! ;D


	4. King Dorephan

ATE: Thanks to **Nintendoborn** for their review and for everyone else for reading this story. I decided to update this story a day early. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

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~*~Chapter 4~*~

Zora's Domain was nothing short of majestic.

The view Sophia had managed to glimpse the day Mipha and Sidon had taken her to get a bath hadn't done the place justice. The whitish stone constructing the city was actually something called luminous stone, a rock that glowed at night with a soft hue; it made Zora's Domain shine at night with the light reflecting off the water flowing through (and the small amount that covered some of the floors in puddles of ankle deep water) like glittering starlight. It was during the start of the tour that Sophia learned that she'd been staying in one of the guest bedrooms during her recovery.

The design of the palace was fascinating, to say the least. Most of the palace (from what she had seen so far) had open ceilings and windows. Directly outside the entrance was a balcony that overlooked the water covered courtyard where she could see adorable Zora children splashing around in the water, all while giggling and chasing each other, while there were two sets of stairs on both sides of the balcony leading down to the courtyard and city.

Even though she was afraid of swimming in deep water, she found herself falling in love with Zora's Domain.

Thanks to the help of Mipha, Sophia was able to recover and eventually walk again. During her rehabilitation Sidon was extremely supportive and would always seem to cheer her on when it felt like she was at her limit; she found him endearing because of this. Once she was able to walk without assistance, she was shown around Zora's Domain, all while wearing the bedsheet she'd been given as a toga (though slight modifications had to be made, such as fixing the hem so she wasn't at risk of tripping herself trying to walk).

As she was shown around, Sophia was able to see what the other Zora's looked like, surprised that the majority of them where similar to Mipha with the shark-like appearance (thought, unlike the Zora princess, they were a good three or four feet taller than her, leaving Sophia a few inches below her shoulders). It was amazing how their scales were different colors, some Zora's being red (like the Zora siblings), blue, green, or even a dark color. Along with the children there were elderly Zora, giving a clear example of what each stage of life looked like.

As fascinating as she was with the Zoras, she noticed them staring at her when they thought she wasn't looking (some of the looks from the more elderly age group being warier than anything).

"Why do they keep staring?" She asked Mipha, keeping her voice quiet so she wasn't overheard.

"It is because you're human." Mipha answered. Sophia gave her a look before the princess decided to elaborate. "The human race is believed by many to have gone extinct. The others stare because you are a rare sight to behold."

Sophia didn't know what to think about this, but she couldn't complain either. Was it really true that humans were extinct and that she was the first one the Zoras have seen in so long?

There wasn't much point worrying about it.

While showing her around Zora's Domain, Mipha had introduced Sophia to a female Zora by the name of Kodah (who seemed to be around the same age as the princess), and she found her to be friendly enough, as well as having a good sense of humor.

Another Zora she was introduced to went by the name of Seggin, who happened to be a sergeant for the Zora royal family knights. Watching him train the knights, she found him to be stern and overly strict for his age (or his appearance, which seemed to be in the prime of his life), but Mipha assured her that he was a softy on the inside (though she found this hard to believe). She found it interesting that he'd trained the princess in fighting with a trident, as well as treated Mipha like she were a daughter.

But then Mipha decided she wanted Sophia to meet her father and she started panicking despite all the reassurance the princess kept offering her.

Maybe she should listen to her.

There was no need to panic.

She was only meeting THE KING OF THE ZORA.

No pressure there!

As these thoughts ran through her head, Mipha led her back to the palace until they had come to the main hall in her mind. Up a flight of steps opposite to the palace entrance was a large structure shaped like a fish, the large entryway being the fish structure's gaping mouth. At first Sophia wondered why the entryway for it was so large…

…Only for her face to go pale as soon as she saw why.

' _JESUS TITTY FUCKING CHRIST_! _!_!'

Before her was a GINORMOUS Zora sitting on an equally large throne that towered over all in the throne room. Though his head was shark-like (as many of the Zora she'd seen today) in appearance, the rest of his body caused Sophia's mind to think of a whale, which was surprisingly fitting in a way. He was both regal and intimidating, but mostly intimidating due to his size.

Oh no! Everyone was staring!

Was she supposed to kneel? Bow? Curtsey?

' _Just do something, already!_ ' Her mind screamed at her.

Sophia quickly scrambled to kneel, but found herself almost tripping as a result. What she didn't expect to hear was the jovial laugh that resounded through the room.

"You are quite the fascination, young one." A deep powerful voice spoke. "I am King Dorephan. It is belated, but I welcome you to Zora's Domain."

Getting over the initial surprise she felt Sophia stood up, feeling a little more comfortable in the presence of Mipha's father (she had a feeling it'd take her awhile to get used to his size).

"Thanks." She replied, unsure of what to say. "I…guess I'm in your daughter's debt for saving me."

"Speaking of Mipha, I've been informed that you are from a world vastly different than ours. Is this true?"

"Yes, it's true. I don't know how it happened, but I don't think I want to repeat it."

"Well, let us hope that it doesn't come down to that. You are welcome to stay within my kingdom."

Hearing that gave Sophia some relief, seeing as she wouldn't know where to go if she was turned away. She was beginning to like King Dorephan, friendly personality. It seemed like her stay would be a nice change. Though it made her wonder one thing:

Would she ever get home?

* * *

ATE: Explaination Time!

(1) Zora's Domain: I know that in-game Zora's Domain is impression in and of itself, but I felt that it was kinda…small? I mean, I'm aware that you can only put so much in a game and I know that it had the essentials such as the Inn and Shop, but aside from those and the Throne Room? That was basically it. I felt that it needed to be expanded in this story from what it was in the game and this was the result.

(2) Humans Are Extinct: Like in The Feathery Salt Is Real, humans are extinct in this story. Refer to Chapter 1 of that story for more details.

(3) "JESUS TITTY FUCKING CHRIST! _!_!": This was an idea a friend of mine gave me to include in this chapter. According to them, this is a reference to Game Grumps' Let's Play of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

Thanks for taking the time to read this chapter! Let me know what you all think and please feel free to leave a review! ;D


	5. Meeting Link

ATE: Big thanks to **Nintendoborn** and **Heaven-water-sister** for their reviews from the previous chapter as well as everyone reading. Here's another chapter to occupy yourselves with until the next update. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

* * *

~*~Chapter 5~*~

Sophia's stay in Zora's Domain was an interesting experience, but in a good way. She spent most of her time around Mipha (and Sidon if applicable) when she wasn't busy with her duties, coming to view the Zora princess as a good friend. She considered her companionship with Mipha important, especially in the days that she found herself feeling homesick.

She missed her home, along with the familiar comforts.

She missed her parents.

She even missed her little brother! And that was saying a LOT!

Thankfully Mipha was understanding when Sophia felt that way and would be nice enough to listen to her ramble.

Sometimes when she hung out with the Zora Princess, she had noticed that she would be working on what appeared to be some sort of armor that was a beautiful shade of blue. It had been during one time she had asked about it and she watched as Mipha blush, though a small smile graced her lips.

"It is a tradition for Zora princesses to craft armor for their future husbands, along with weaving a white scale into it." She told her.

"So who's the lucky Zora?" Sophia asked.

"It is not a Zora who has captured my heart, but a Hylian I have known since we were both children."

"What's he like?"

"Well…he is kind, courageous, and someone you can count on when you're in trouble, though he is mostly quiet. He can be a bit of a glutton when it comes to food, but he enjoys cooking. He serves as Princess Zelda's personal knight and is the Champion representing the Hylians. But…" She lowered the armor into her lap, looking at her hands. "…It is because he is the Chosen Hero that he carries a heavy burden. They both carry a heavy burden…"

Just from Mipha's words Sophia could tell the Zora princess cared deeply for the Hylian she described, but there was a hint of sadness when she mentioned Princess Zelda. Was there some sort of love triangle?

If so, she wished Mipha the best and that she would find happiness in the end.

One day when she had been taking a walk, Sophia had spotted a blonde haired boy in the palace heading towards the throne room, and out of curiosity she started to follow.

"Link!"

A flash of red rushed by her in the direction of the boy, tackling him to the floor, and it was only after that happened that she realized it had been Sidon. The blonde boy gave the little Zora a bright smile in greeting before picking him up, all the while the prince squealed in joy. It was at this point that Sophia was able to examine this new person.

The boy appeared to be around her age with his long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, but he had strands that fell to frame his face. His eyes were a beautiful blue and were so expressive even as they sparkled in joy. She would've believed him to be human (and initially she did) until she noticed that his ears were long and pointed.

' _Is he an elf?_ ' She wondered.

She saw that the blue shirt he wore was the same color as the sash Mipha wore, and he also wore tan pants and leather boots. But the one thing that caught her attention was the elegant sword he carried on his back. She didn't know what it was about the sword, but she got the feeling that it was important somehow.

It puzzled her to say the least.

"Sophia! Come meet Link!"

Sidon suddenly grabbed her hand and before she could even respond the little prince was already pulling Sophia over to where the boy stood, a look of confusion on his face as he watched the sight before him. She was aware that Sidon meant well (and the behavior was expected given his young age), but she found herself feeling embarrassed as she was made to stand before the young swordsman.

"…Hi?"

She watched as the boy raised an eyebrow. She let out a nervous laugh at this before holding out a hand.

"I'm Sophia. You're Link, right?"

The boy, Link, nodded before taking her hand and giving it a firm shake in greeting. He seemed to look her over before a questioning look appeared on his face.

"Your ears?" He asked, his voice seeming to fit his appearance.

At first Sophia was confused by what he meant, but then she realized that he was referring to how they looked. As a result she tried to hide her round ears by lightly covering them with her hands. For some reason, she actually felt ashamed for looking different even though she was human.

She must've looked so alien to him.

"Yeah, I bet they look different." She commented, averting her gaze.

"Sophia?" A tugging on her skirt caused her attention to be directed to the little prince that now gazed up at her. "Why are you ashamed? I happened to like your ears."

Her eyes widened at this as her faced heated up in embarrassment, and she could hear Link trying (and failing) to suppress his laughter for her sake. However, hearing the swordsman's laughter seemed to be contagious and Sophia soon found herself laughing with him, and she drew her hands away from covering her ears. Poor little Sidon was confused as to why they were laughing and because of that she placed a hand on top of his head.

"Thank you, little Sidon." She gave him a warm smile. "You know just what to say to make a person feel better."

A bright smile appeared on the Zora prince's face, looking pleased at his accomplishment. Sophia turned to face Link wanting to ask a question.

"Link!"

The three turned towards the direction of the voice to find Mipha rushing over to them, and she saw the surprised look that appeared on Link's face as the Zora princess hugged him. She seemed to realize her actions before she pulled away from the swordsman with a light dusting of red appeared on her face as she looked bashful, and it was at that point that Sophia connected the dots.

Link was the one Mipha had been crafting the Zora armor for.

So that meant…

"You're a Hylian?" Sophia asked.

Her question caused the two to turn to her and she didn't miss the grateful looked that briefly crossed Mipha's face.

"I am." Link tilted his head to the side. "Haven't you seen others of your kind before?"

"Actually Link, Sophia isn't a Hylian." Mipha mentioned, catching his attention. "She is actually a human."

"A human?" He glanced at Sophia before turning back to the Zora princess. "I thought they were extinct."

"They are. At least that's what I've been told." Sophia shrugged.

"Then how…?"

"I will explain everything to you while we are on the road." Mipha promised as she placed a hand on Link's arm, and it was at that moment Sophia noticed the beautiful silver trident being carried on the Zora princess' back. "Let us go bid my father farewell before we depart. I'm sure he would be happy to see you."

Sophia was there to witness the interaction between Link and King Dorephan, and though she knew him to be a kind ruler, he greeted the swordsman as if he were family. Soon the time came for both Link and Mipha to leave, and she couldn't help but feel sad as she watched her friend leave.

"Do not fret." The king told her. "She'll return once she has finished the task given to them by Princess Zelda."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Mipha usually returns a month or so from the day of her departure. But rest assured, she always returns and with plenty of stories for Sidon." He glanced down at the little prince. "Isn't that correct, my son?"

Sidon seemed to brighten at this.

"Mipha always has the best stories!" He replied, excitement evident. He then turned to face her. "I know that you and my sister tend to spend time together, but seeing as she has departed from Zora's Domain I'll take it upon myself to keep you company until Mipha returns!"

To complete his declaration Sidon did his favored pose and Sophia couldn't help but giggle at the sight. She could tell he meant well and she decided she would humor him while Mipha was away.

Besides, how could she say no to the adorable Zora prince?

* * *

ATE: Explanation Time!

(1) Zora Armor: I had to include a scene where Mipha's working on the Zora Armor. Plus, it served to show Sophia how much Mipha cares about Link.

(2) Link: I know in-game that Link is stated to be mute for a reason, but I chose to write him in a way that he doesn't talk _as_ much instead of being mute altogether.

So what did you all think? Feel free to let me know! ;D


	6. Lynel

ATE: Big thanks to **Ryuu-Kitsune-Onna1** , **Kira-Katashi** , **Nintendoborn** , and **Heaven-water-sister** for their reviews from the previous chapter, as well as everyone else reading. It's with this new chapter that this story is caught up with the one over on AO3, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

* * *

~*~Chapter 6~*~

True to his word, Sidon had made sure to keep Sophia company whenever he had the chance (or he managed to sneak away from his studies if he was lucky enough, though this only happened a few times). She honestly hadn't expected him to go through with his promise, but she had a feeling that it was mainly because they both missed Mipha and decided to spend time together during her absence.

That, or she had unofficially been made his new playmate.

During the time Mipha was away, Sophia and Sidon would spend time in the city and she would occasionally play with him and the other Zora children; sometimes he would want to go outside Zora's Domain to swim in one of the two ponds located on either side, though thankfully the locations weren't that far and the city would be in view. She would watch Sidon gleefully swim around in the water (she had to admit he was a quick swimmer), but there were times he'd encourage her to join him. Sophia was hesitant whenever this occurred, but eventually she would wade into the water until it only came up to her knees (at least she'd be fine at that depth).

Today was no different as Sidon had decided he had wanted to go to the pond located near the stairs leading up to the East Reservoir Lake (which was were the Divine Beast, Vah Ruta, resided), and she had been more than willing to oblige him (mainly because she could see Zora's Domain from the pond itself, and feeling a sense of security knowing that it was so close). Sophia stood in the water while she and the Zora prince had a splash fight, their laughter ringing through the air as they had fun. Eventually she had to get out of the water since her feet were beginning to get wrinkly, but she sat at the edge of the water.

Sophia liked coming out to the ponds with Sidon, not only because it was peaceful and quiet, but because the locations themselves were scenic. The sound of the waterfalls that fed the ponds was a welcome sound that would put her mind at ease (like how some people enjoyed the sound of the ocean). Sometimes there would be wildlife like a fox in the area, but they kept their distance.

"Oh!" Sidon suddenly exclaimed, catching her attention. "Mipha should be coming on any day now."

"Really?" She asked, getting excited at the news.

The little prince nodded before he rushed out of the pond, all the while splashing water as he did so. He took hold of her hand and before she knew it she was found herself being led off to wherever Sidon was headed. For a child, he was surprisingly strong.

"I have to go pick some blue nightshade for her! I always make sure to get some so she has something pleasant to brighten her day. They also happen to be her favorite flower."

She couldn't help but smile at this.

"You really love your sister."

"Of course I do! She's taken good care of me since I hatched."

"Wait, you hatched? As in hatched from an egg?" She asked.

"All Zoras hatch from eggs." He turned to give her a curious look. "Isn't it the same for humans or Hylians?"

Sophia's eyes widened at Sidon's question and her face turned red in embarrassment. How was she supposed to explain something like that?

"Well, uh…um…" She had no clue what to say. This was not something she should be discussing with a child, let alone one from a race entirely different from her own. It just wasn't her place to do so. "That's something you should ask your sister when you're a LITTLE older!"

' _Please don't ask anymore question, PLEASE don't ask!_ ' She thought desperately.

"Alright! I'll be sure to ask her when the time comes!"

' _THANK YOU!_ '

Eventually Sidon stopped before some blue flowers that almost reminded her of bellflowers with how the cluster hung over the stem. They were so simple in appearance, but they were beautiful.

"Is this blue nightshade?" She asked.

"Uh-huh!" He replied, letting go of her hand and going off to pick some of the flowers.

"They're so pretty." She knelt down before one of the flowers, her fingers lightly brushing the petals of one of the buds. "I can understand why Mipha likes them."

She watched as Sidon happily went about picking a few blue nightshades, all the while humming a simple tune, and she decided to pick one of the flowers to take back with her. Maybe it'd help to brighten her room a bit.

GRRAAAAAAAAGH!

Both Sophia and Sidon froze upon hearing the sudden roar and she found herself being filled with a sense of dread. So much that she felt the urge of fight or flight start to kick in, and she hadn't even seen anything yet!

"Sidon…" She started, trying desperately to keep her voice from wavering. "I don't know what that was, but we need to go-!"

Suddenly the ground started to tremor before a large creature crashed through the trees with a roar. Both human and Zora let out a scream and without thinking Sophia scooped Sidon up into her arms before making a mad dash towards Zora's Domain. From what she had seen of the creature itself, it resembled a giant centaur, except that the upper half resembled a lion instead of a human.

She could hear the sound of its hooves trampling the ground under foot, and there was no doubt that it was gaining on her at an alarming rate. But even then, she would do everything she could to keep the little prince from harm.

She would die before he so much as got a scratch!

Sophia could see the bridge leading into Zora's Domain coming up. Maybe there was some hope in getting to safety!

Just a little more-!

Pain erupted in her left shoulder, immediately followed by her body violently spasming as she silently screamed. Sophia fell to the stone ground (the pain of the impact being nothing in comparison to her shoulder) and the next thing she knew she found Sidon at her side.

"Sophia! You have to get up!" Sidon cried, gold eyes wide with horror. "The Lynel is approaching!"

She tried to get up, but she yelped when any movement she made caused her body to spasm again.

"I-I can't!" She whimpered pitifully. The pain was unbearable! "Y-you have to run!"

"No! I'm not leaving you!"

"Then get help!" Sidon took in a sharp breath at this. "Your life's more important that mine!"

"But-!"

"JUST GO!" She forced out.

Sidon jumped at her raised voice before running, and she watched as his form got smaller as he crossed the bridge into Zora's Domain. She struggled to turn her head to look at her shoulder as her body spasmed from the movement, but when she managed to get a glimpse from her peripheral her face paled when she saw that there was an arrow embedded into her flesh, as well as some blood oozing out.

Oh god!

Oh god, oh god, oh god!

Her breathing was getting quick and her heartrate seemed to increase. She knew she was panicking and there was nothing she could do about it.

She could feel the ground shaking as the large creature (Sidon called it a Lynel, right?) got closer.

It was only a matter of time…

Her only regret was not being able to tell her family she loved them, or being able to get home to do so.

' _At least Sidon will be safe._ ' She reminded herself.

Yes…

At least she made sure that he'd live.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the Lynel, and not wanting to see what would come next.

"HIYAA!"

Sophia's eyes shot open upon hearing the war cry and she was surprised to see a familiar swordman charge past her in the direction of the Lynel in order to confront it, along with Mipha and what looked like some sort of large humanoid rock being as they ran towards her.

"You got this, little guy!" She heard a deep voice bellow out. "Show that Lynel who's boss!"

"Sophia!" She heard Mipha's voice as she knelt down beside her.

"Mipha… Is Sidon…?"

"He is safe. You did well."

"Good."

"Save your strength." The Zora princess went quiet momentarily, but then she let out a slight cry as if she burnt herself or something. "A shock arrow." Shock arrow? What was that? "Daruk, I'm unable to remove this arrow, please help me."

"Are you sure?" She heard the deep voice (she assumed was Daruk) ask as a pair of large feet appeared in her vision. "I mean, what if I end up doing more harm to her while removing it?"

"You needn't worry. I can heal whatever damage is inflicted upon her, but between the two of us you are the only who can even touch the shock arrow."

"Okay, on three."

Sophia shut her eyes in anticipation of the pain.

"Three!"

She cried out as the arrow was suddenly pulled out of her shoulder and with the removable of the arrow she found that her body didn't hurt as much, but her body still spasmed every now and then. She relaxed when she felt soothing warmth dull the worse of the pain, though she soon felt drowsy.

"I thought you said on three…" She said.

"I count backwards." At least Daruk had the decency to sound sheepish.

"It's best we get you back to Zora's Domain. You seemed to have lost some blood."

Before Sophia could say anything, she was suddenly scooped up into large arms that began to carry her in the direction of Zora's Domain. The last thing she saw was the crushed remains of the blue nightshade she'd been holding before her vision went dark.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sophia found herself waking up in her room and she found herself feeling confused. How had she gotten back to her room? She managed to sit up in her bed, only to noticed the dull throbbing in her shoulder. At first she wondered what happened, but then she remembered the Lynel and Sidon—

Sidon!

' _It's okay._ ' She had to remind herself. ' _He's safe._ '

As soon as that thought crossed her mind the door to her room open and soon enough a small head popped into the room.

"Sophia!"

The familiar sight of the little prince set her mind at ease, but she was soon taken by surprised when she found herself being hugged by Sidon.

"I was so worried about you this whole time!" He told her. "After you told me to run…"

"Shhh…" She shushed softly. "It's okay, Sidon. I couldn't let anything happen to you."

The Zora prince pulled away to look up at her.

"Even so, you still got injured."

"But I'm still alive." She gave him a smile, hoping it would make him feel better.

It seemed to do the trick since she watched a smile form on Sidon's face.

"I'm glad you are alive. I don't know what I'd do if you…you know." He looked as if he'd remembered something and she watched as he pulled out a silver chained necklace with a pendant in the shape of the Zora symbol, but there were small round sapphires set into the three curves so that is was in an almost triangle shape. He then held the necklace out to her. "I want you to have this."

"Aww, thank you little Sidon." She said, accepting the necklace from the little prince. "But why are you giving me this?"

"Mipha said that I should only give it to someone I consider really special. I find you to be special, so I wanted to give it to you, Sophia."

"If that's the cause, then I shall treasure it."

Sidon's smile seemed to brighten at this and he looked so pleased with himself.

"I'm glad. I promise that after today I'll make sure to study and train hard so that I can protect you next time."

"That's great that you want to be more serious with your studies—I'm sure Mipha will feel the same as well—but you shouldn't have to push yourself with training for my sake, little Sidon."

"But I want to…" He then looked somewhat bashful. "Would you keep calling me 'little Sidon'? I happen to like it when you do."

She couldn't help but giggle at this.

"Of course, but only if you call me 'Sophie'." She told him.

"If that is all it'll take, then I will call you 'Sophie' from now on!"

From that day forward Sophia felt at home in Zora's Domain, and knowing she'd been able to keep Sidon safe had felt like an accomplishment in and of itself.

* * *

ATE: Explanation time!

(1) Lynel: This is the Lynel that's implied to be the one from the Zora Monument detailing Part 7 of the Zora's History. I was always under the impression that Memory #10 (Mipha's Touch) occurred after Link defeated the Lynel.

(2) Shock Arrow: There isn't anywhere in canon that says how shock arrows work, but I'd imagine that they'd cause someone to spasm in pain whenever they try to move. I did include how Zoras are unable to touch them as well.

(3) Daruk: I had to include him, even if it was a last minute idea! Plus, I would think that the Champions would try to stick together if some of them where heading in certain directions; with Zora's Domain not being that fair from Death Mountain, Daruk decided to tag along since I don't seem him having any trouble traveling by himself.

I hoped you all liked this update! Please be sure to leave a review! ;D


	7. To Be A Hero

ATE: Oooh boy! How many times do I need to apologize for taking so long to update this story? Because I'm really really really sorry for taking so long! I basically took more than three months to get this finished, and it was more because I kept getting distracted (both at home and at work) and less procrastination. Other than this, I got no other excuses. Anyways, big thanks go out to **Nakashima Hatsuharu** , **Maetrix** , **VIDEOGAMER** , **Guest** , **pandalover04** , and **LilyAllycia** for their reviews so far and everyone still reading and have been patient when it comes to waiting for updates. I can't thank you all enough for the dedication since I find it very supportive.

Now, to address Guest Reviews:

 **Guest** : Here's the next update!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

* * *

~*~Chapter 7~*~

Ever since the Lynel incident Sophia was left bedridden due to her body being weak from blood loss. At first she had been okay with that, but eventually she got so bored and restless that she attempted to sneak out of her room.

Key word being 'attempted' since 1, she underestimated how weak her body truly was when she managed to get out of bed, and 2, she didn't even get close to the door before she had been caught by Mipha (who unironically came through the very door she had been approaching). Ever since then, she had been under strict order to stay in bed—she knew Mipha to be kind and all, so it came as a surprise when she realized her sweet words subtly hid an implied threat long after the Zora princess left the room; whether or not she would go through with her threat (whatever it may be), Sophia decided disobeying wasn't worth the risk.

Thankfully, she was finally allowed to get out of bed a week later, though she was told to take things easy since she was still recovering. She didn't mind this in the least bit since she was just glad she could leave her room and move around now.

Wearing a simple one-piece dress that Mipha gave her (which she had gotten for her while she'd been away from Zora's Domain), Sophia wandered around with no particular destination in mind, though she was forced to take frequent breaks whenever she felt winded. She thought nothing about it when she started, but now she was getting frustrated with her constant stop-and-go.

It was actually getting annoying!

Sophia sighed at this, proceeding to take another break as she sat down on a nearby stone bench. Despite her annoyance at her lack of stamina, there wasn't much she could do to fix the situation as a whole. She knew she was in such a state because she had protected Sidon from the Lynel and she ended up getting hit in the shoulder by a shock arrow as a result. One thing was for sure, if given the change to go back and redo things, she'd still make the same decision and take the hit again.

Thinking of the little Zora prince brought a smile to her face as she tugged on the silver chain around her neck, pulling out the pendant she had hidden underneath the collar of her dress. She really didn't understand Sidon's reasoning behind giving her the necklace in the first place, but she had a feeling that it wasn't just a simple trinket a child would give to just anyone.

So the question was…what was the significance of the necklace.

"There you are. I was wondering where you went."

Sophia jumped in surprise before her head shot up to find Mipha approaching her, and soon the Zora princess joined her on the bench she sat on.

"Mipha! You scared me!" Sophia exclaimed.

"My apologizes. It wasn't my intention to frighten you. What is that in your hand?"

At first she wondered what the Zora princess was referring to until she remembered the necklace she was still holding.

"Oh, this? It's a necklace your brother gave me after the Lynel incident."

"Let me see that!"

She didn't expect such a response from her friend but still handed the necklace over to her. As she observed Mipha looking over the necklace she couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with her having it, though she didn't get far with that line of thought when the piece of jewelry was handed back to her.

"You must keep this hidden at all times." Mipha told her.

"Why?" She asked, tiling her head slightly in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

Mipha was quiet, looking as if she were contemplating her next words carefully before she spoke.

"Sophia… Even though you have only been in Zora's Domain—in this world—for a short time, I consider you a dear friend of mine. Despite how reckless it was, you chose to risk your life to protect Sidon." Mipha said. "He willingly gave it to you, and so I advise you to keep it hidden if you wear it. No one can know of it except for myself and Sidon."

"What about your father?"

The Zora princess shook her head.

"I cannot stress how important this truly is. You must promise to keep this a secret for the time being."

Sophia couldn't understand why Mipha wanted her to keep the necklace a secret, but if it was as important as she was making it out to be who was she to question her reasoning?

"Okay, I promise." She vowed, putting on the necklace before tucking the pendent underneath the collar of her dress.

A look of relief appeared on Mipha's face as well as a smile.

"Thank you. There was something I wanted to tell you as well." She then looked away, averting her gaze to the hands she had clasped in her lap before speaking in a quieter tone. "Do you remember the armor I was working on…?"

"…You mean the one you were working on for L-!"

"Yes!" Mipha's face became red at her sudden outburst, but eventually she managed to compose herself before continuing "Yes. After the Lynel attack, I had planned on giving the armor to him at sunset that day. However…I was unable to."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it was because I was afraid. Most of his time is spent with the princess that…" Mipha fell silent before she stood up from the bench and turned to face the human. "Shall we go? I'm sure you wouldn't want to stay in one place for too long."

Despite the sudden change of subject, Sophia didn't need to think twice before getting up and walking alongside Mipha. The Zora princess exercised a tremendous amount of patience whenever she needed to stop a short while for rest, and eventually the two females came across a surprise (for Sophia) in the form of a certain Hylian, who was leaning over the balcony as he observed something below.

"Link." Mipha greeted kindly, a soft smile gracing her lips.

The Hylian swordsman glanced over in their direction before standing up straight, offering a smile of his own. He then turned to face Sophia, tilting his head to the side as his eyes expressed…curiosity? She was aware that he wasn't much of a talker, but how was she supposed to know what he was asking?

"I'm confused. Are you trying to ask me a question?" Sophia asked.

Link's eyes widened in realization which was followed by a sheepish look as Mipha giggled at the exchange. He managed to recover and opened his mouth to speak.

"How is your shoulder?" He asked.

Oh!

That's what he was trying to ask her.

"I'll be honest; it's still sore, and occasionally there's some throbbing. Other than that, it's not as bad as when I first got hit." She answered.

Link nodded, seeming satisfied by her response.

"What were you doing before we arrived?" Mipha asked.

Link turned towards the balcony before pointing to something below. Approaching the balcony, Sophia peered over the edge and was surprise by what she saw. Down below she could see Seggin facing off against Sidon, though the little Zora prince was struggling with the silver trident he was using; the trident itself dwarfed Sidon's small form and it looked as if he were struggling to use it as he wielded it with both of his tiny hands. She heard Mipha let out a small gasp of surprise from beside her, not having expected to see her little brother in the scenario he was currently in.

"How long has this been going on?" The Zora princess asked, her voice filled with concern.

"A little over an hour." Link answered, frowning as he continued to watch.

"An hour?!" Seggin isn't supposed to go over 30 minutes!"

"It was your brother's choice."

Mipha frowned at this before quietly turning back to observe and Sophia did so as well. She found herself sharing the same sentiments as the Zora princess as she continued to watch Sidon struggle with jabbing the trident while Seggin merely took a step to the side. Sidon made another attempt and quickly twisted around, only to trip over the long fishtail that was always dragging on the ground behind the little prince. She winced upon seeing him faceplant the floor (knowing it had to hurt), followed by seeing his trembling form trying to get up while the older Zora approached him; she couldn't make out the conversation that took place between the two, though it was soon concluded with the Demon Sergeant walking off. Sidon got to his feet and looked as if he was going to follow when he suddenly turned around and glanced up to where she, Mipha, and Link were, but what she didn't expect was for him to visibly wilt when his gaze fell on her as if he were ashamed of something, only to then turn around and hang his head.

Sophia couldn't help the confusion she felt at Sidon's behavior, finding it odd to see him looking so depressed or ashamed. What did he have to be ashamed about?

"I'll go talk to him." Mipha suddenly declared before walking off.

She watched as the Zora princess got farther away, leaving her with Link in the process. Growing tired from standing for so long she decided to sit down on the ground with her back leading against the railing. This caught the blonde swordsman's attention.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's been constant stop-and-go for me all day with how weak my body is after seven days of bedrest. I want my stamina back. Then again, that's what I get for risking my life to protect someone." She sighed, leaning against the balcony. "I don't regret my decision, you know? I'd do it again, though not in my current state for obvious reasons."

"I don't think Mipha would appreciate her efforts in helping your recovery to go to waste." Link chuckled, only to calm down a moment later. "But why do you say that?"

"Mipha has done so much for me since the moment I came to Hy—since I've come here!" She quickly corrected herself, hoping he hadn't noticed.

Sadly, that wasn't the case.

"You're not from Hyrule, are you?"

At this Sophia averted her eyes, turning her head away so she didn't have to see the look on his face. It was quiet between the two until Link spoke again.

"You don't need to say anything. Mipha explained your situation to me, though I was a bit skeptical at the time."

Eyes wide in surprise, she turned to face him.

"You…believe it?" She asked.

"It explains why there's suddenly a Human in Hyrule after years of them being extinct." He gave her a smile. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

She let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. Back to what I was telling you earlier. Mipha has done a lot for me. In fact, I would've drowned if it wasn't for her saving me. The least I could do was keep her little brother safe."

"Even at the cost of your own life?"

Sophia opened her mouth to respond, only to stop herself.

To risk your life to protect someone was one thing, but to outright sacrifice said life was a completely different story. And it wasn't the kind of decision a person would easily make on a whim.

There was no easy answer for such a question.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "Anyone could say they'd sacrifice their life, but the hard part is going through with it when the time comes. But if it was someone I cared about, like Mipha or Sidon, I think I could do it."

Link regarded her with a look she couldn't identify, only to look away a few moments later. This left her confused and she was tempted to ask him about it until he spoke up.

"What about your family? Tell me about them." He suddenly asked.

It sounded like Link was trying to change the subject, which would explain the look he gave her a minute ago. It was probably for the best so she decided to go along with it.

"My family?" That was an interesting subject to touch upon, though not an easy one to explain. She thought back to what her life was like when she was still with her family, and now that she thought about it, there were things she was forced to reconsidered. "It's…complicated."

"How so?"

"I guess the best word to describe it would be 'dysfunctional'. My family consists of both my parents and my younger brother, Nate." She groaned upon mentioning him. "My parents spoil him because he's the baby of the family and they let him get away with things. In fact, he's the reason why I almost drowned. I did nothing and yet my parents let him dump water on him, and then he shoved me into the deep end."

"So your brother shoved you into deep water, even though he and your parents knew you couldn't swim?"

"It certainly didn't stop him. I don't know how, but I somehow ended up in the deep in lake below Zora's Domain after I fell into the pool."

"But do you miss your family?" Link asked.

"I do, but at the same time I don't. I'm kind of conflicted when it comes to that. Maybe I do miss them more than I realize."

Link was quiet, likely letting her words sink in. Sophia took the time to twist her body around so that she could look down to the level below in time to see Mipha conversing with Sidon, though she couldn't tell what was being said. Observing this, she hoped that the Zora princess would be able to cheer her brother up.

"I have an idea!"

She turned to face Link, feeling confused by his sudden excitement. He glanced at her as a smile formed on his face.

"Are you able to walk?" He asked.

"I think so?" She guessed.

"That's okay. I can help you out if you get tired, but I could use your assistance for what I have planned."

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Mipha eventually made it to where Sidon was, his back turned to her as he hung his head, and seeing her brother in such a state left her heart aching in sympathy. She remembered her days when she trained under Sergeant Seggin as a child and how strict he could be at times, not even going easy on her regardless of considering her like his own daughter. Despite his teaching methods he had managed to train countless Zora into the knights and fighters they were to this day, and she presumed he'd continue to do so for a long time. In her opinion, Mipha thought Sidon was a little young to start training (hence why she had been surprised to see him training with Seggin in the first place) and she couldn't help but wonder why he desired to start so early.

Regardless, she was here to comfort him.

"Sidon." She called out to him, watching as he whipped around to face her upon hearing her voice. "Whatever is the matter?"

Sidon averted his eyes before he spoke.

"I'm a disappointment." He told her, his voice quiet.

"Why is that?"

"Because I tripped. I want to become stronger so Sophie won't have to get hurt again, but I can't use a trident without losing my balance or have trouble lifting it. And she saw me…"

Mipha's gaze softened, understanding the root of the problem as she approached her little brother, kneeling in front of him before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We both know that isn't true." She stated, causing him to glance up as her. She smiled softly. "She may have seen you trip, but that does not mean she sees you as a disappointment. It is admirable how you want to become stronger, but you are still young with plenty of room to grow."

"But I promised to protect our home from harm if anything happened to you, just like you asked me to. How can I do that if I am not strong?"

"You did promise me, but at your age it is vital for you to pace yourself as oppose to pushing past your current limits. If it were so easy, everyone would become skilled warriors overnight."

Her words seemed to do the trick since Sidon's expression brightened up a bit (at least he no longer looked disappointed).

"So if I pace myself I'll be able to be as skilled as you someday?" He asked.

"Of course, especially if you set your mind to it. Also…" She leaned forward as if she were about to share a secret. "…I would suggest you start with a sword instead of a trident. It will help you build up your strength while you get used to the weight."

"If it helps me get stronger then I'll do it!"

Mipha was about to respond but the sound of someone calling out caused her to turn around in time to see who it was. She didn't expect to see Bazz running over to them looking as if he had rushed all the way here.

"Lady Mipha, Prince Sidon! I'm so glad I found you!" Bazz said one he got his breathing under control.

"What is wrong?" She asked.

"I was patrolling around the Domain when an arrow landed on the ground not far from me. The arrow had this note tied to it."

Mipha took the note Bazz held out to her, her gold eyes roaming across the page as she read through it, only to widen once she finished.

"Mipha? What's wrong? What does it say?" Sidon asked, having seen the expression on his older sister's face.

She took a deep breath and collected her thoughts before she spoke.

"It would appear…Sophia has been taken." She answered.

"Taken?! As in kidnapped?"

"That would be one way of putting it."

"We have to save her!"

Mipha was surprised by this. She had expected her brother to say that, but it was the way he said it with such conviction that she hadn't anticipated.

"Sidon?"

"She did the same for me not that long ago! I should be able to do the same for her!"

She regarded Sidon upon hearing this and eventually a smile graced her lips.

"It would seem no further discussion is required. Shall we go save Sophia?"

Sidon wasted no time as he rushed off, leaving Mipha and Bazz behind. The younger Zora turned to the princess before speaking.

"What are your orders, Lady Mipha?" He asked.

"Gather the members of your brigade to aid us in rescuing Sophia." She replied. "You did well to bring this to my attention, Bazz."

At this Bazz puffed out his chest in pride, but all the same he gave her an eager smile.

"The Big Bad Bazz Brigade is at your service!"

Mipha smiled before she and the younger Zora went their separate ways.

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Sophia had been expecting to help Link when he asked for her help. However, what she didn't expect was for things to take such a turn for the worse.

This was _not_ what she was had in mind.

And it was _not_ what she signed up for.

Especially when the situation she was involved her being stranded on top of a large rock surrounded by deep water. And to make matters worse she could easily slip off said rock if she wasn't careful!

If she were to slip off the rock in her current state…

Just the thought of that made her shudder in dread.

Sophia glanced over to the person who brought her to this place (and stranding her on the rock). She couldn't see much of his form due to the dark cloak he wore—though underneath he wore a strange outfit that made her think of a ninja—and the mask that covered his face was creepy looking in her opinion.

She huffed, not at all liking the situation she was in. She didn't want to be a damsel in distress, and she really didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a lake.

This just wasn't her day, was it?

The masked person shifted his body in the direction they had come from, which confused her. She didn't see or hear anything to warrant such a response and she opened her mouth to voice her thoughts.

Until she heard the voices in the distance as they got closer.

Sure enough, she spotted Mipha and Sidon approaching with Bazz, Rivan, and Gaddison following close behind. It wasn't until they made their way further in that the group spotted her and their eye's widened.

"Sophie!" Sidon exclaimed.

She watched as the little Zora started running over to where she was, only to stop short when the masked person stepped in and blocked his path. What she didn't expect was for Sidon to pull out a small silver sword, or the determined expression that appeared on his face.

"Let Sophie go!"

In response the masked person pulled out a sword of his own (though it wasn't as elegant as the one Sidon held) and upon seeing it Mipha gasped.

"Sidon!" The Zora princess cried, drawing her trident as she rushed over to defend her brother.

"Never fear, your Highnesses! We won't let you fight him alone!" Bazz declared as he and his group joined the fray with their own weapons.

Before she knew it the Zoras were fighting the masked person. Sidon wasn't struggling as much as he had been earlier when he'd been training with Seggin (which was likely thanks to the change of weapon) and seemed to be doing a decent job—though still somewhat clumsy—holding his own even with a few close calls.

Sophia was so absorbed in the battle taking place before her that she had forgotten her situation; it was when she shifted that she suddenly remembered and yelped as she slipped off the rock she was sitting on, though she managed to grab hold of the rock to stop herself from falling completely into the water, leaving her lower half submerged. Sadly, her action only served to prolong the inevitable plunge given her weaken state, but she tried her hardest to hold on as long as she could. She started to panic as she gradually lost what little strength she possessed to hold on and soon enough she sunk beneath the surface of the water, having no strength to keep her head above.

Watching the surface get farther and farther away she found herself relieving the memory of when she became afraid of being in deep water.

 _She had been 6 years old when she and her parents had gone with some friends to a lake for a boating trip. She remembered watching the other children having fun riding in tubes while the boat sped through the water and how they held on for as long as they could before they lost their grips and fell into the water. It had looked like a lot fun and she had wanted to try it out, and her parents let her, albeit reluctantly at first. She had gotten on the tube and held on to the handles as the boat started moving at a steady pace._

 _She was having the time of her life until she was flung off the tube due to the boat taking a sharp turn, and she had found herself a good few feet below the water. She remembered how scared she'd been as she helplessly tried to claw her way back to the surface. She had no clue how long she had struggled before she was eventually rescued by the others, but by then the damage had been done._

 _She hadn't learned to swim before this incident, and she had no desire ever since._

Her eyes closed as she knew there was nothing she could do now. Mipha was going to be disappointed, but she hoped she wouldn't feel bad about what happened to her. But she knew Sidon wouldn't take it well—

Suddenly her arm had been grabbed by something as it started tugging her upwards and before she knew it her head broke through the surface of the water, gasping for air now that she was able to breathe. She felt herself being dragged somewhere until she found herself being pulled out of the lake, and she couldn't help how glad she felt to be back on solid ground.

"Sophie! Are you okay?"

She turned towards the direction the voice came from to find Sidon at her side with water dripping off his tiny frame, and it was at that point that she put two and two together.

"…Did you…did you save me?" She asked.

"Of course I did!" Sidon answered. "I promised to keep you safe, remember?"

Sophia stared at the little Zora, unsure of how she should respond. She had thought he had been saying that because of the Lynel incident and to make her feel better, but he had actually save her from drowning! Soon enough she found herself hugging Sidon as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Thank you, little Sidon."

She had been scared when she had fallen into the lake but now she was grateful to have been rescued by him. Hopefully he would continue to remain so kind and chivalrous when he got older. But for all intents and purposes, he was the hero of today.

Sophia let go of Sidon as Mipha and the others approached with the masked person following closely behind, and she heard the Zora prince gasp when he removed his masked to reveal Link's face.

"Glad to finally remove that mask. It was starting to get stuffy." The blonde swordsman commented.

"It was _you_ this whole time?!" Sidon exclaimed, shocked by the sudden reveal.

"Yeah. Sorry for deceiving you like that, but it was all part of the plan to cheer you up."

What she didn't expect was for Sidon to narrow his eyes at Link.

"Even the part where Sophia almost drowned?"

Uh oh…

Sidon used her actual name instead of her nickname.

She needed to fix this quick!

"That…part wasn't planned. At All." She mentioned, drawing the Zora prince's attention to herself. "But you saved me, and for that I will always be grateful. You're a hero."

Sidon glanced from her to Link, followed by Mipha and the Bazz's group before returning his gaze to her.

And then he gave his trademark pose, sparkling toothy smile and all.

* * *

ATE: Seeing as the Champions' Ballad came out before I started writing this chapter I was inclined to include references to it in this story. It also helped that we all finally got to see Sidon when he was little (too freaking cute for this world!). Thanks for reading and let me know what you all think! ;D


	8. Eye Of The Storm

ATE: I realize I took a long time getting this posted, and it was during the processes of writing this chapter that I got stuck a good number of times before I managed to figure out what I wanted to write. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

* * *

~*~Chapter 8~*~

Sophia didn't know how they did it, but Mipha and Sidon somehow managed to convince her into learning how to swim from them. She still couldn't figure out how they did it because she knew she would've shot down the idea as soon as it had been brought up, but this time she couldn't wrap her head around it.

Hence why she found herself sitting by the same large pool Mipha and Sidon had taken her to not that long ago with her legs submerged in the warm water as they dangled over the edge. Both Zora siblings were already in the water as they waited patiently for her to join them, knowing that she needed to go at her own pace. They were so patient that she felt bad for making them wait for so many minutes as she tried to convince herself to get in the water.

She knew how deep the water was.

She knew that she could trust Mipha and Sidon to come to her aid if she needed it.

So why was it so hard to move forward when she knew all this?

' _You can do this!_ ' She told herself. ' _Nothing bad will happen as long as they're here._ '

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she eventually managed to convince herself to get in the water and slid into the pool. As soon as she was in the water she felt arm scoop her up and opening her eyes confirmed that Mipha was holding her up in the water.

"You managed to find the courage to take the first step." The Zora princess told her. "Are you prepared for the next step?"

"I might as well be." Sophia chuckled nervously. "What're we doing next?"

"We will work on having you learn to float on the water itself. I'll support you at first until I feel you are ready to do so on your own."

"…Okay." Was the tiny response she gave before the Zora princess lifted her up with both arms going under her legs and behind her back.

"I could hold your hand if you want!" Sidon supplied, having swam over to where Sophia and Mipha were. "It helped last time, correct?"

Despite the childish notion, Sophia couldn't deny that having Sidon hold her hand last time had served as a decent distraction when Mipha needed to dunk her head underneath the water (even if she had originally done so to humor him). And the memory of the little prince saving her from drowning a few day ago only helped to reinforce her trust in him. Without a word she held her hand out to him, to which he eagerly grasped hers without question. She then turned to Mipha.

"Okay, I'm ready." She declared.

"Very well." Mipha acknowledged. "I will need you to lean back completely."

Sophia took a deep breath before leaning back and before she knew it herself practically floating on her back, albeit with Mipha's support. Despite knowing the female Zora wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, she couldn't help the anxiousness that was slowly creeping on her focusing her attention on Sidon's hand could only do so much to distract her. Just as things were about to become unbearable she suddenly heard Mipha humming a song—albeit her voice was distorted due to the water—and she found it soothing enough as she finally allowed herself to relax.

"You can open your eyes."

Sophia's eyes shot open, not having realized she closed them in the first place. Her gaze shifted over to Mipha in time to see her smile and she wondered why this was the case until she noticed something.

The Zora princess had both hands clasped in front of her.

Which meant…!

"You did it, Sophia!" She told her, as if she had been aware of her line of thought. "You are floating on your own without any assistance."

And Mipha was right about that! Normally she would've freaked out about being in the situation she was in (let alone in the water at all), but perhaps it was having both Zora siblings around that really helped her out.

"I think the song you were humming awhile ago helped came me down." Sophia admitted.

"That is because Mipha's song always makes things better whenever something is wrong." Sidon stated as easily as if he were sharing a well-known fact.

"You are right, Sidon." Mipha agreed, a knowing smile gracing her lips. "It is capable of righting wrongs so long as you hear and remember the tune."

Sophia mentally laughed at this. She thought Mipha was just humoring Sidon by just telling him that, but for some reason she felt as if that weren't entirely true. Before she came to Hyrule she had believed that other worlds were just make believe, but after spending her time here maybe it wasn't so farfetched for songs to have some form of magic.

Maybe Mipha's song truly helped her learn to float.

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A few days later saw Sophia being able to float on her own thanks to the help of both Mipha and Sidon, though that was as far as she was able to get since she was still against the idea of sticking her head underwater. It still surprised her that they managed to help her as much as they did, which was more than anyone back home had been able to accomplish.

However, Mipha had to leave Zora's Domain after receiving word from Princess Zelda, prompting the Zora princess to retrieve her Lightscale Trident in response.

"The princess requires my presence." She had told both Sophia and Sidon. "My journey shall not take long, for I go to Mount Lanayru with the other Champions."

"When will you return?" Sidon asked.

"I should be able to return by the end of the day."

And with that Mipha had left Zora's Domain while Sophia and Sidon watched as her form gracefully swam through the waters of the river until they could no longer see her. Not knowing what else to do she decided to go play with the little prince and the other Zora children to pass the time. The children wanted to play a game of hind n' seek, electing that Sophia would be the one to have to find all of them before they all scattered (thankfully not before being told not to hide anywhere underwater).

Finding the younger children had been easy due to the simplicity of their hiding places, but Sophia had to admit that Sidon and Bazz Brigade were very good at the game itself seeing as she was having an interesting time searching around Zora's Domain just to find them. She lost count of how many times she had passed through so many of the same places that even one of Mipha's friends—Kodah, to be exact—couldn't help but giggle in amusement every time she saw the human pass by the nearby Inn; Sophia knew she wasn't doing it to be mean and so was able to take it in strides despite how flustered she felt. Her search continued in that fashion and it wasn't until the sky had taken on an almost golden hue from the setting sun that she collapsed on one of the many stone benches scattered around Zora's Domain feeling exhausted from her day long search for Sidon and the Bazz Brigade.

Trying to catch her breath Sophia couldn't help but wonder how they managed to stay hidden for so long without being found. She had made it abundantly clear that no one was allowed to hide underwater due to her inability to swim, so that left out that explanation. The only other option she could think of was that they were constantly changing where they hid when she wasn't looking.

That had to be it!

She couldn't think of any other reason except that.

Sitting up on the bench Sophia was ready to call it quits when the ground suddenly began to shake violently that she fell to the ground. Once the ground stopped shaking everyone and everything in the Domain went deadly silent—save for the sound of the waterfalls and the running water—so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

Which was why it was very jarring to hear the horrified scream of a female Zora piercing the air, only to be followed by a cacophony of screams from everyone else joined in. Looking up she could see as the Zora's panicked in their own way, like the way children clung to their mothers in fear or how the more elderly denizen seemed to pray to whatever deity they worshipped.

But despite these differences, there was one thing in common.

Everyone was staring fearfully at the sky.

Confused, she followed their gazes, only to have her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in shock.

In the far distance a mass of inky black clouds spread across the sky with what looked like ominous glowing pink flames swirling around in a fashion akin to molten lava. Though this sinister anomaly blotted out the light of the sun, it didn't spread far as it appeared to be concentrated to a specific area far from Zora's Domain.

Even though Sophia didn't know what it was, she somehow knew, on a subconscious level, that this was bad as she was suddenly filled with a great sense of dread. Looking at the other Zora's around her, their reactions were justified, for they looked as if they were staring at their likely doom. She couldn't help but be reminded of the Breach from Dragon Age: Inquisition and wondered if this is how the characters from that game felt when it first appeared.

"The Calamity!" One of the Zora's cried out in terror. "Calamity Ganon has returned!"

Who or what was Calamity Ganon? Sophia could only presume it had something to do with that dark mass in the sky.

"Sophia!"

Upon hearing her name her head whipped around and she was surprised to see Mipha rushing over to her, the water droplets dripping from her form indicating she had swam all the way back to Zora's Domain from where her destination had been. Before she could even speak the Zora princess grabbed her hand and pulled her along as Sophia was forced to follow. At first she wondered where they were going until she saw the palace up ahead and before she knew it they were standing before King Dorephan as his daughter informed him about what was going on.

"The time has come to do my part, Father!" Mipha declared. "I must go and board Vah Ruta, for Hyrule's future depends on us."

King Dorephan sighed heavily, and she could see small hints of sadness that he was making an effort to hold back.

"I knew this day would come, though I had hoped it wouldn't be so soon. I cannot stop the inevitable, but I pray that you return safely once this is over, my daughter." King Dorephan said.

"Mipha!"

Sophia didn't expect the red blur that rushed over to Mipha, though she felt relieved when she saw that it was Sidon as he clung to his older sister in desperation.

"Don't go, Mipha!" The little prince begged.

"Sidon. We both know I must go." She told him. "Remember the promise, for I believe in you."

Sidon loosen his grip on his sister, gazing at her for a moment before he spoke.

"…I believe in you, too."

Mipha smiled, giving him a quick hug before standing up and turning to face Sophia.

"Stay safe, my dear friend Sophia."

She wasn't sure why, but something about Mipha's words felt final, as if she were saying goodbye. Even as the Zora princess walked right by her the feeling persisted and she felt the need to say something before it was too late.

"Mipha, wait!" She suddenly said, causing the Zora to whip her head around. Sophia took a deep breath once she figured out what she wanted to say. "Please…be careful."

The Zora princess was silent as she regarded Sophia, and then she spoke.

"I will."

With that Mipha rushed out of the palace in haste. Sophia walked out of the palace and looked over a nearby ledge in time to see the Zora princess gracefully swimming away from Zora's Domain. Turning her gaze, she spotted a cliff in the distance where a giant mechanical elephant stood tall like a diligent sentinel, its form highlighted by glowing blue lines.

She remembered the time when Mipha first told her of Vah Ruta, recalling how fondly she spoke of it as if it were more than just some machine. The Zora princess had been vague about its capabilities and its true purpose at the time, only telling her that when the time came she would have to pilot it.

So this was the Divine Beast she had been told about.

As Sophia's gaze shifted to the fearful denizens of Zora's Domain, she couldn't help but wonder if Vah Ruta (as well as the other three Divine Beasts Mipha had briefly touched upon) was as vital at this moment as she'd been told.

Suddenly feeling something grasp her hand caused Sophia to jump in surprise and turn to the source, only to find Sidon holding onto her hand (she felt bad when her quick reaction made him jump as well).

"S-sorry, Sophie…" He meekly apologized.

"No no no, you don't need to do that!" She told him. "You didn't know I'd respond like that. Then again, I wasn't expecting you to grab my hand either."

Sidon regarded her before deciding to accept her answer, though he kept holding her hand. Not knowing what else to do she grasped his tiny hand in return, though she couldn't help but wonder why the little prince came to her for comfort as opposed to his father. Was it because King Dorephan was occupied with keeping order among his people during this dark hour? Or was there another reason?

Regardless of the true reason, Sidon chose to go to her.

"Sidon." Sophia started, causing the prince to gaze up at her. "What is Calamity Ganon?"

She didn't expect for his tiny hand to tighten its grip on hers in response to her question (or the strength behind said grip), but looking at his eyes revealed a hint of fear he was holding back.

"My sister never told you?" It was surprising to hear the sudden maturity his voice took on. "The Calamity is a fearsome monster more scarier than the Lynel we encountered. I have not heard much about it aside from what my sister has told me or what I've overheard my father and others say, but what I do know is that this isn't the first time this had happened."

A sinking feeling settled into Sophia's stomach as Sidon told her this. If what he said was true, then the way the rest of the Zoras were acting seemed to drive the point home.

She suddenly found herself wishing to see her own family again despite how negative things had been before she left. She didn't care how Nathan caused problems for her or how her parents let him get away with things due to being the baby of the family, she wanted to see them—even if it were for only a moment.

That train of thought was abruptly interrupted when she heard shouting coming from her right, and turning in that direction left Sophia feeling a mixture of shock and confusion at the…was that some sort of robot the soldiers were fighting?

The shape of the robot reminded Sophia of a large, mechanical spider with how it moved around on its six long legs, its body glowing the same ominous pink that swirled around in the dark clouds in the distant skies. The Zora soldiers did the best they could when it came to their attempts of fending off the mechanical being, though they were no match for the lasers that shot out of the single glowing blue eye located in the center of its head; there were times when the laser shot close to where she and Sidon stood, but one got a little too close for comfort that the two had to drop to the ground just to avoid getting hit. Despite the effort that were made by the weapons used against it, not a single scratch was left on the metal body while the areas where the lasers landed damaged multiple structure of Zora's Domain such as (but not limited to) the railings and some parts of the bridge the fight took place in.

When things started to look hopeless and Sophia anxiously expected the worst to happen, but what she didn't expect to happen was for King Dorephan to step out of his palace. He calmly made his way towards the robotic spider (that was still distracted by the soldiers), standing tall and steadfast without any hint of hesitation or fear, all the while his face set with a determined expression. As he got closer his pace began to pick up, and before she knew it her eyes widened in awe as she witnessed the Zora King lift the large robot up with superhero-like strength. The robot's head kept rotating erratically—almost as if it were panicking—as King Dorephan swiftly turned around and used his momentum to hurl the machine high into the air where it soared well into the distance in the direction beyond the main entrance of Zora's Domain.

She was speechless upon witnessing this sight, but the only word that came to mind was 'badass'.

Everything seemed to be fine as everyone watched this event take place and the people rejoiced (Sidon being one of them as he eagerly ran over to his father). Sophia felt relief as she watched, but it was short-lived when she heard the sound of an explosion and suddenly found herself desperately hanging from a ledge that unguarded due to the railing being destroyed. Looking down caused the blood to drain from her face, for below her was the lake Zora's Domain was built over.

The very same one she almost drowned in when she first arrived in Hyrule.

"Sophie!"

Jerking her head upwards she saw Sidon staring fearfully down at her, or specifically the situation she was in. The muscles in her arms were starting to burn in soreness and she knew it was only a matter of time before she lost her grip and fell.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared.

But not as much as she was when the little prince wrapped his tiny hands around one of her wrists and tried to pull her up, so thinking quickly she spoke.

"Wait, wait, wait! Maybe you should get some help first, little Sidon."

"But what about you? What if you fall before I come back?" He asked.

"I can hold on long enough for you to come back with help." She lied, knowing this wasn't the case; right now, the best thing to do was to at least make sure he stayed calm in this situation.

Sidon appeared to believe her and soon ran off to get help. It was a good thing too since it was only a matter of time, and she didn't want him around when it happened. Sophia's hand felt clammy, her grip slowly weakening, and then she found herself falling. Her back stung temporarily from impacting the water, and in her panicked state her hands desperately clawed through the water as she tried to get to the surface. Closing her eyes didn't help the situation either!

She needed air!

She didn't want to die!

Suddenly she felt arms wrapped around her and pulling upwards (as far as she knew), and soon enough she found herself gasping for fresh air when her head broke the surface of the water. She could hear voices around her—though she couldn't seem to make out the words in her current state—but she didn't have time to register them when she was pulled out of the water and something was wrapped around her wet form before she was pulled into someone's embrace.

"Sophie! Oh, thank god!"

Wait.

She knew that voice.

Sophia pulled away to get a look at the person holding her, only for her eyes to widen when she saw who it was.

"…Mom?"

Sure enough, she was gazing up at her mom's worried face, but there was also relief as the older woman held her. Looking around she could see her dad getting out of the pull while Nate stood off to the side looking as if he didn't know what to do in the current situation. She realized that she had a towel wrapped around her soaking form, her dress clinging to her body like a second skin.

What was going on?

How did she managed to get back home?

Why was she home now after all this time?

She suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion that she found herself clinging to her mom for comfort. It had been so long since she last saw her family and she was unable to hold back the tears from how much she missed them. After all this time she couldn't believe she was actually home!

"We were so worried about you!" Her mom told her. "We couldn't find you anywhere in the pool after Nate pushed you in. It was like you somehow managed to disappear!"

"I-I did!" She managed to get out once she found her voice. "I was gone for weeks, maybe even months! I was-!"

"Months?" Her dad spoke up. "You went missing for a few days."

This startled Sophia.

She had been missing for only a few days? That couldn't have been right! Her time in Hyrule had been a lot longer than that. How was that even possible? Was it possible that time flowed differently between the two worlds?

"How else would you explain her absence?" Her mom asked before letting her eyes take in Sophia's form, or specifically what she wore. "Where do you think this dress came from?"

No one missed the skeptical look on her dad's face and considered that question, though it wasn't long until he left out a defeated sigh.

"It doesn't matter. Our daughter is home, and that's all that matters."

Things seemed to move too quickly for Sophia to keep up and it wasn't long before she found herself in her bed, freshly showered and with a bowl of chicken noodle soup in her hands that her mom insisted she eat. She didn't have a problem with eating it, but every time she took a sip she couldn't help but long for the creamy fish soup she had had back in Hyrule, resulting in her placing the unfinished bowl on her bedside table. What surprised her was how much she wanted to go back.

Why did she want to go back so badly?

Hadn't she wanted to return home _because_ she'd been homesick?

Why did this confuse her so much?

"How're you holding up?"

Glancing over to the door Sophia saw her mom enter her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm okay, I guess." She answered. "If feels kinda weird to be back after all the time I spent there."

And it was true. It was still strange how time flowed differently in Hyrule than here, and she wouldn't be surprised if it took her awhile to get used to things again.

She must've missed what her mom had said, and it wasn't until the older woman reached over to her chest that she looked down and remembered the necklace Sidon had given her, the pendant hanging proudly on display over her PJs.

"This is pretty. Where did you get it?" Her mom asked.

"A friend gave it to me." She didn't miss the gleam in her mom's eyes as she stared at the sapphires of the necklace, and frowning she covered the pendant by wrapped her hand around it. "It's mine."

Her mom pulled back, looking somewhat started at her daughter's tone. It was apparent she hadn't expected her to react like that as she held her hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay! I was just admiring it!"

Without another word her mom left her room (and thankfully shutting the door behind her) before Sophia left out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. With how that encounter went she was going to keep the necklace close at all times. Hopefully things would calm down and go back to normal around the house, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

' _Hopefully Nate will get grounded or something now!_ ' She jokingly thought to herself before laughing quietly to herself.

* * *

ATE: Thanks for reading. With this chapter I'll be going back to working of TFSIR since I got to the point in this story I wanted to get to. I do apologize for some things being rushed in this chapter, though, since I wanted to get this chapter out.

Please leave a review to let me know what you all think! ;D


	9. One Year Later

ATE: I know I said that I was going to update this story until I got to a certain point in TFSIR, but I felt like I've kept you waiting for updates for some time, and I already had a good amount of this chapter written ahead of time before I recently moved (back at the end of December). And since everyone's been wondering what would happen next in this, I decided to post this early. Who knows, maybe I'll post another chapter for this story just as soon as well, but we'll see. I'd like to thank **miserymire** , **TheLastApollo** , **Heaven-water-sister** , **M aeeeeee** , **Guest 1** , **Nakashima Hatsuharu** , **Guest 2** , **darkimpa** , **Guest 3** , **RaisingHeartExelion** , **LullabyeStump** , **Mimzy94** , and **Typhoon Boom** for their review for the previous chapter, as well as everyone reading the story so far. Please enjoy this new chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda. I only own my OCs.

* * *

~*~Chapter 9~*~

You'd think things would go back to the way they were now that she was back home. Life would continue on as if nothing happened and everyone could pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Sadly, that was not the case for Sophia Fahey.

At first everything seemed to be normal—at least for the most part, but she chalked that up to her family still recovering from the incident caused by her unexpected journey to Hyrule. She thought things would be fine with her return!

Unfortunately, she soon realized she had been lured into a false sense of security

She had been right to be wary of her mom and had resorted to wearing the necklace Sidon had given her, hiding it under her shirt and not risking the chance of letting it out of her sight for even a second. Her dad and brother were fine for now, but even Nate was able to cause trouble for Sophia despite her absence.

How?

He thought it wasn't a bad idea to share what happened to his friends.

The worst part?

A few of Nate's friends happened to be younger siblings of some of _her_ friends. And where she lived, word had a strange way of traveling around a small town. It wasn't until she went back for her senior year in high school that she learned how much damage her little brother had unknowingly caused.

Sophia's friends would give her weird looks when they thought she wasn't looking and sometime whisper behind her back. From there others would find out through the spread of rumors, and like all rumors, it changed so much with each retelling that the 'final' result was something incredibly mind-boggling! It even got to the point where she found herself avoiding her peers whenever she could manage it. It was baffling how no one even bothered to _try_ and ask her if it was true or not regardless of her avoiding others! The ignorance wasn't what irked her. What _irked_ her was her peers accepting the rumors at face value.

There were countless times where she was tempted to lash out at them for their behavior.

But in the end, she never acted on it, knowing it wasn't their fault they didn't understand.

Things continued to progress like this until a year had passed and the rumors had only gotten worse. Graduation had been one of the most awkward experiences she had been forced to go through, especially with the silence that followed as soon as her name had been announced and she went on stage to receive her diploma. It was because of this that she didn't bother applying for college, and her newfound infamy didn't help her attempts when applying for jobs; she had a feeling that even if she landed a job, it wouldn't have given her any reprieve from the rumors. The situation at home was somewhat mild in comparison, though still bad enough that she would seek sanctuary in her room whenever she got the chance.

Ironically enough, Sophia found solace from the very pool that started all her problems, but not once did she blame it for her troubles. Every now and then she would step into the shallow end and allow herself to float on the surface of the water on her back (though she made sure she didn't drift off towards the deep end for obvious reasons), all the while humming Mipha's song to herself as a method of keeping herself calm. She was grateful to both Mipha and Sidon for helping her find the courage to even approach shallow water and learn how to float, because if they hadn't, she knew she wouldn't bother going near the family pool.

Currently, her parents and Nate had just left to run errands, leaving her alone at home to enjoy the temporary peace and quiet she had from their presence; Sophia took the opportunity to get her swimsuit on and went out to the pool in the backyard. Being a typical summer day, the temperature was a lot warmer than she would've liked and she noted how warm the water was as she stepped into the shallow end of the pool, and she gave herself a few minutes to get used to being in the water before allowing herself to float on her back. She started humming to herself to relax while gazing up at the sky, but after awhile her humming faded into silence as her thoughts wandered to the times she spent with the Zora siblings.

Hard to believe it had been a year since her trip to Hyrule.

Sophia found the combination of the warm sunlight and weightlessness of the water so relaxing that she found herself drifting off…

 _This was a dream._

 _It had to be since she found herself standing among the graceful architecture of Zora's Doman. But there was something wrong. There was a distinct lack of Zora, which left her feeling uneasy at first as the only sound that reached her ears was the sound of running water and someone crying—_

 _Wait!_

 _Someone crying?!_

 _Sophia followed the sound through the Domain, being careful not to slip while traversing the watery winding paths. Eventually, she found the source of the crying, but what she found hadn't been what she expected._

 _Before her was Sidon, weeping in the most heart wrenching way as fat tears fell from his tightly shut eyes. The sight almost made her want to cry in sympathy and wrap her arms around the him, but she hesitated since, from the looks of it, he wasn't aware of her presence._

" _Sidon?"_

 _The sound of her voice was enough to startle little Zora prince as his large golden eyes shot to look at her, widening when he realized_ who _she was and before she knew it, she had a pair of tiny arms wrapped around her leg. Now it was her turn to be surprised by Sidon's sudden clinginess, but she thought nothing of it._

" _What's wrong, Sidon? Why are you crying?" She asked._

" _Why did you leave, Sophie?" He suddenly asked._

 _Sophia froze, unsure of what to say regarding such a question. Before she could even respond Sidon continued._

" _Not only did you leave, but Mipha and Father are gone… Everyone in Zora's Domain is gone…and I'm all alone."_

 _Sidon started crying again, and without thinking Sophia tried to comfort him. However, nothing she tried was working at all (not even Mipha's song worked!) as he continued._

 _She suddenly felt something wet land on her head and, at first, she brushed it off as her imagination until she felt more, followed by a slow pitter-patter that begin to gradually build up. Confused, she looked up at the sky in time for something wet to get in her eye, causing her to blink a few times before she noticed the clouded skies above._

 _It was at that point she realized it was raining._

 _Why was it raining?_

 _The rain didn't let up; in fact, it seemed to get worse in mere moments until it was heavily raining buckets of water._

 _And while this was going on, little Sidon continued to cry and cry._

 _Did that mean the rain was caused by Sidon crying—?_

 _Sophia yelped when she suddenly found herself standing in an ever-growing puddle of water and before she knew it the water level was almost up to her knees._

 _Zora's Domain was beginning to get flooded by rainwater!_

 _And Sidon seemed unaware of this development._

" _Sidon! Please calm down!" She begged, scooping up the little Zora prince into her arms and held her close. "I'm here now! You're not alone!"_

 _But still he continued to cry._

 _The water was now at her waist._

 _Sophia was starting to panic. If this continued, she'd end up drowning in the growing flood!_

 _The water was now reached her chest._

 _Oh god no…!_

" _Sido—!"_

 _Her words were cut off as her head went under the water._

Sophia's eyes shot open just as her head went underwater, chlorinated water going up her nose as she tried to recover from her body's sudden movement. Eventually she managed to recover and stand on her feet, her breathing ragged as her lungs demanded air. Glancing around, she realized that she was still in the shallow end of the pool with the sky still clear and sunny and not a single gray cloud to be seen. She sighed before running a hand through her hair.

The lesson to take away from this was not to fall asleep while floating in the pool. But even though it was a dream, she couldn't help but feel worried about Sidon's words. Why was he left alone like that? Why was she so concerned over something that happened in a dream?

She shook her head before proceeding to getting out of the pool. A shower would probably make her feel better.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A shower may have helped cleaned her body and hair of the chlorine she'd been swimming in, but it did little to help ease her concerns as she got dressed in her pajamas (which consisted of an oversized blue baggy sweatshirt and a pair of black shorts). Once dressed, she had headed down to make herself something for dinner with the intention of avoiding the rest of her family before they decided to return home. Maybe a TV dinner or a bag of chips would do the trick.

Sadly, those plans were thrown out the metaphorical window when she found Nate sitting at the table while her mom and dad were bringing out plates of food (from the looks of it, steak with a fully loaded baked potato). It was at this point that her mom noticed her and smiled.

"Oh, you're just in time for dinner!" The older woman told her.

"…Yeah." Sophia commented, unsure of how else to respond.

When exactly had they gotten home?

Was it while she was in the shower?

"Don't just stand there! Come sit down." Her dad told her.

She sat down in the only free seat that was available to her and started on her food. She was about to scoop some of the potato into her mouth when she felt eyes on her, and glancing up, saw that her mom was staring at her.

What…?

Sophia followed her gaze and it wasn't until she saw the pendant of the necklace that she realized why before immediately stuffing it into her shirt to hid it in sight. That seemed to do the trick as her mom returned her attention to her own plate of food and ate.

Dinner continued in awkward silence—as most dinners with her family had for the last year—which was why she usually snuck into the kitchen and grab something to eat before her mother started working cooking. The only times she couldn't avoid these encounters were days like today or when they decided to eat out (which was also another awkward experience to go through due to obvious reasons). As soon as she finished her food, she quickly excused herself from the table and heading back to her room before anyone could say anything.

Apparently today wasn't her lucky day since her dad called out to her.

"We need to talk, Sophia." He told her. Knowing not to argue she sat back down. "Why have you been isolating yourself lately? Why not go for a job or hang out with your friends?"

She frowned at this. Were her parents truly that oblivious to what she's been going through for the past year?

"Aren't you even aware of what happened? Especially at graduation?" She asked.

"We did find that a little strange." Her mom commented.

"I would be applying to jobs or hanging out with my friends like any other normal person—"

"Then what's stopping you from doing those things?"

She sighed, starting to get annoyed that her parents were catching on.

"I would be doing all those things if it weren't for someone telling his friends what happened to me. Because of the rumors, everyone's been avoiding me. My social life is nonexistent at this point and no one wants to associate with me."

"Don't blame this on your brother! They're just rumors. They'll go away eventually."

Sophia's mouth fell open at this, unable to believe the words that came out of her mother's mouth. How _dare_ she try to turn this back on her like that, especially when she was victim in this scenario!

"That's easy for you to say when the rumors don't affect you! And for an entire year! I am practically a pariah now because Nate couldn't keep his mouth shut!" She stated. "How can you even take his side when he was the one that started all this? When I'm the one suffering?"

"You're being dramatic." Her dad said nonchalantly.

" _I-I'm_ being dramatic? Whenever some sort if conflict happens between the two of us, you're always quick to defend him! Why can't you ever take my side—"

"Enough!"

At this point her dad stepped in with a stern look. Normally this look would intimidate Sophia, but it was nothing compared to when she first encountered the Lynel a year ago. That, and she was practically fed up with her circumstances.

"Go to your room!"

She narrowed her eyes before speaking.

"Gladly." She said quiet.

Storming up the stairs Sophia could feel her eyes watering from the unshed tears starting to form, but as soon as she had the door to her room closed she could no longer hold them back. She placed a hand over her mouth to try and muffle her sobs.

How could her parents betray her like this?

She thought things might've changed for the better, but apparently they never left square one. Anything, her life had gotten worse! Nothing in her life up until now had ever been as painful as this betrayal. Not even when the shock arrow to her shoulder seemed to compare, seeing as physical pain was temporary.

No, she didn't think she'd be able to recover from how her parents treated her.

And to think she had been _desperate_ to be with her family when Calamity Ganon had showed up, or that she even _missed_ them when she was still in Hyrule.

Pulling her necklace out from under her shirt, Sophia gazed down at the sapphire and silver pendant as a few tears fell onto it, and before she knew it, she found herself clutching it close to her chest. There was no doubt in her mind that she missed the friends she made back in Hyrule and that she had a yearning to return, and with how things had progressed tonight and throughout the past year, it was even more reason for her wish.

' _Like that's going to happen again…_ ' She thought sadly, forcing herself to get up and crawl into bed. ' _I miss Mipha and Little Sidon._ '

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

 _She knew she was dreaming again since she found herself climbing up a familiar set of steps leading up to a familiar dam. Upon reaching the top landing, her attention was drawn to the vast body of water that stretched out before her. Approaching the edge, Sophia gazed down into the water, noting how the surface was so still that she could see her reflection staring back at her._

" _Sophia…"_

 _She glanced in the direction the voice came from, only for them to widen when she saw the familiar figure before her._

" _Mipha?"_

 _Sure enough, the Zora princess stood before her, or specifically seemed to be standing on top of the undisturbed water's surface. But something seemed different about her. She didn't remember her every having blue flames surrounding her, or the slightly blue tinge to her form, but maybe that was just her eyes playing tricks on her or an influence of her dreaming mind._

" _What are you doing here, Mipha?" She asked, standing up._

 _What she didn't realize was that she was getting too close to the edge of the water._

" _Sophia." The Zora princess said. "…up…!"_

 _Confused, she took another step closer to the water._

" _SOPHIA, WAKE UP!"_

Sophia's eyes shot open, only to be interrupted when she suddenly found herself falling.

 _Splash!_

She had fallen into the deep end of the family pool.

* * *

ATE: I apologize for some things being a bit rushed, especially with how contrived the conversation between Sophia and her parents was. Regardless, please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter! ;D


	10. An Unexpected Reunion

ATE: I seemed to apologize a lot these days. So not only was I busy at my previous job, but I had to move somewhere else recently, so yeah...unpacking boxes is fun (sarcasm). Another thing that seemed to motivate me was seeing that teaser trailer for Breath of the Wild 2 (which had been uploaded on Youtube during the move, so that was a nice surprise to get). I'd like to thank **Nakashima Hatsuharu** , **Cynder 7** , **M aeeeeee** , **Frostwind523** , **Mimzy94** , **nofilter** , **tenabukage** , **Emocean** ,  
 **Heaven-water-sister** , and **Guest 1** and **2** for their reviews as well as everyone else that has read up to this point. Here's hoping the wait was worth it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Legend of Zelda or Nintendo. I only own my OC.

* * *

~*~Chapter 10~*~

Sophia was too shocked to respond as she found herself sinking towards the bottom of the pool, but then she noticed something.

The temperature of the water changed.

It was colder than she remembered!

Her eyes shot open when her body brushed against a rocky bottom—definitely _not_ the bottom of the pool—and, without thinking twice, used her legs to push off from the bottom and propel herself upwards towards the surface. Eventually, she unable keep her momentum and had to move her arms in an attempt to maintain it; just when it felt like her lungs were running out of air, her head finally broke the surface of the water. Gasping desperately for precious air, she did her best to keep herself afloat, which was proving difficult in her panicked state of mind.

She needed to calm down—

The water's too deep—!

She couldn't feel the bottom—!

There's nothing keeping herself afloat except herself—!

Why wasn't she able to get enough oxygen—?!

 **She** _ **needed**_ **to** _ **calm down**_ **NOW!**

Sophia wasn't sure how she did it, but she somehow managed to calm her wildly racing mind to where she could think clearly enough to consider her next actions.

' _Okay, I can do this…_ ' She told herself. ' _Just…pretend you're at home…in the pool._ '

With that in mind, she allowed herself to lean back so that she was floating on the surface of the water before closing her eyes.

Breath in…

Breath out…

Breath in…

Breath out…

She allowed herself to float around, unaware of how much time had passed until she suddenly felt something wet land on her face, interrupting the tune she didn't realize she was humming as she opened her eyes. It was at that point that she noticed the cold rain heavily falling from darken gray skies.

That was when thing started to take a turn for the worse.

Sophia became too aware of not only the cold temperature of the air and rain, but the deepness of the water she was still floating on and the fact that she was _**still in deep water**_ …

Oh no…!

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no—!

She yelped when she felt something brush pass one of her bare legs.

NOPE!

THAT'S IT!

SHE WAS _SOOOO_ DONE WITH THIS—!

Something wrapped around her waist.

"OH SHI—!"

Her words were cut short when she suddenly found herself submerged in the cold water, brown orbs squeezed shut as she futily struggled to get free from whatever held her captive as it dragged her off somewhere. Just as her lungs began to burn for oxygen, she soon found herself on solid ground alternating between coughing up water and gasping for air. And it was at that point that she realized a few things.

One, she was on dry land (or as dry as land can be while it's raining).

And two, the thing that had held her captive _wasn't_ holding her captive anymore.

Did it just…!

Sophia noticed the shadow that eclipsed her form and turned to face whatever was making it, only to let out a yelp of surprised as she scrambled away from the hulking being that towered over her despite the fact they were kneeling. The being before her seemed to be surprised by her reaction, but she wasn't really paying attention to their expression when she covered her head with her arms—in response to the hand reaching out towards her.

"Don't hurt me!" She cried out fearfully as she squeezed her eyes shut.

It became deathly silent, save for the sound of the rain falling from the heavens. And it continued like this without anything happening.

What was going on?

"My apologies. It wasn't my intention to frighten you."

Upon hearing the lilting voice, her eyes slowly opened as she hesitantly lowered her arms, and what she saw wasn't some sort of monster—as she had initially believed—but a Zora.

A _really_ huge Zora.

He wasn't huge as in fat (which was _not_ the case), but he was a lot taller than she remembered Zora males to be (with the exception of King Dorephan)—much taller seeing as he was currently kneeling to be less intimidating (she hoped). As was customary with the aquatic race, he was adorned in silver accessories, along with a dark blue sash worn across his chest (from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist) and golden colored cords or rope that hung from where the sash started. One of the things she noticed was the charm on the Zora's silver choker that reminded her of a whistle as it rested in front of a white cravat, as well as the silver headpiece that had a black feather attached to it. Another noteworthy detail (aside from his red scales) was how his head resembled a hammerhead shark, along with how he was extremely easy on the eyes—

"Miss? Are you all right?"

Sophia's eyes widened as she felt her face grow warmer.

She'd been caught staring.

"S-sorry about that…" She stammered. Quick, think of an excuse for the staring. "I…wasn't expecting to see anyone out here."

Especially someone as h-!

' _I'm gonna stop you right there, brain!_ ' She mentally scolded herself.

"Is that so?" The red Zora asked. "Were you not aware that we stand on the bank of Zora River?"

"Technically, we're not standing, but that's besides the point." She commented.

This got a mirthful laugh out of the Zora before her, and she couldn't help the smile that formed on her face in reaction to his laughter. Good, he could take a joke.

Not to mention his smile—!

' _Brain, I'm warning you._ '

Though, for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was familiar about this, but she couldn't put her finger on it…

"You're not wrong! Perhaps we should remedy that, if you'll allow me."

At this the Zora held a large hand out to her, palm open and waiting for her to take it. At first she glanced at the hand, then the Zora it belonged to before her gaze returned to hand. Making up her mind, Sophia placed her hand in the one offered to her, and she couldn't help but be aware of how small her hand looked in the Zora's hand; it reminded her of how small a baby's hand was in comparison to a father's hand.

She was also aware of the warmth as well.

Soon enough Zora gently grasped her smaller hand before helping her up from the damp grassy ground with ease, and another thing she was made aware of was how her pajamas were clinging uncomfortably to her form like a skin while her hair was plastered to her face.

That, and her eyes widened at just how _tall_ the Zora was once he stood at full height.

"Damn, you're tall!" She blurted without thinking.

The Zora was quiet was he gave her a baffled look and her face heated up in embarrassment as she realized her words might've been taken the wrong way.

Yes, he was tall.

Tall, as in her head barely came above his stomach.

His extremely well-developed stomach…

…That happened to have an 8-pack worth of _abs_ …

' _Please shut up, brain. Not only are you make things worse, but you just met the guy!_ '

Do something!

Salvage the situation before it. Gets. Worse!

"U-uh… S-sorry, _again_! I didn't mean to offend you or anything! Sometimes I blurt out things without thinking and it makes things worse—"

"All is well, young one!" The Zora told her, not at all seeming offended by what she said. "I'll admit that word isn't common practice to use in such context, but I'm aware you meant no offense by its use. You still haven't answered my question, though."

"Oh! Yeah, to answer your question, I wasn't aware we were at Zora River. But I have been to Zora's Domain before awhile back."

"Really? And how long ago was that?"

"A year ago, actually."

"A year ago…" He commented thoughtfully. "Strange, I don't recall seeing any Hylians with your appearance during that time."

"Actually, I'm—"

Sophia was interrupted before she could finish.

"Oh, pardon me. I realize I haven't even introduced myself."

The Zora suddenly did a certain pose she recognized all too well, down to the flexing left arm and grin revealing white shark-like teeth—along with a tooth sparkling and an audible ding she wasn't sure she imagined or not.

"I am Sidon, the Zora prince!"

The sound of a record screeching to an abrupt halt played loudly in her head as her eyes widened.

No way…!

No. Freaking. Way!

It couldn't be…!

"Sidon?" She asked cautiously, having finally found her voice. " _Little_ Sidon?"

In response, the cheerful grin steadily fell until it was replaced with a puzzled expression.

"…Have we met before?" He questioned as he gracefully knelt to her level, or as close to it as he could due to his height.

And now she had the undivided attention of a pair of piercing golden eyes, but it didn't stop there. Sophia was taken aback when he placed a hand on the ground to support his weight as he brought his head directly in front of her, causing her to blush at his close proximity. Butterflies were fluttering wildly in her stomach as he examined her, his brows—or whatever the equivalent was for Zora seeing as they didn't have any—furrowing in deep concentration; it got to a point where she couldn't handle his gaze and allowed her eyes to fall to the ground, and she became aware of how cold her bare feet were, as well as realizing how much she was shivering in her drenched pajamas. Out of habit, Sophia went to grab the pendant of her necklace that hid under her shirt, only to realize that it wasn't there and the pendant itself was hanging from her back.

It must've swung around behind her when she was in the water.

She reached behind her back and started pulling on the chain to bring the pendant back to its proper place. However, this caught the Zora's attention as he brought a large hand to her neck, causing her to tense up when she felt his claws lightly graze her skin as he pulled the necklace out from under her shirt. Soon the pendant was revealed, and she turned her gaze back to his face.

What she hadn't expected was the shocked expression on the Zora's face at seeing the necklace itself.

He glanced from the pendant to her.

Back to the pendant.

Then back to her.

Before she knew it, her feet had left the ground has she found herself being wrapped in an embrace that took her by surprise. The hug was tight, but not in the way that would cause her any sort of discomfort; strangely enough, something about it felt…intimate, for a lack of better words, but she idea as to why this was.

Not only was she too aware of the warmth coming from the Zora's body she was pressed against, but she was also too aware of the fact his head was practically resting on her shoulder.

Why did she get the feeling she was going to have problems with her blood pressure in the future? Seeing how much she'd been blushing today, that looked to be a likely possibility.

"I can't believe it! It's actually you, Sophie!"

The final nail in the coffin.

She couldn't deny the truth that had been made blatantly clear to her.

The large Zora that held her was, in fact, Mipha's younger brother.

The same Zora child she used to play with whenever his older sister was away.

Little Sidon.

' _Except he isn't so_ little _, anymore._ ' She noted.

However, that line of thought seemed minor when she realized another issue came to mind.

She had been crushing on Mipha's brother.

Her _younger_ brother, who had been a small child the last time Sophia had seen him.

That fact alone mortified her as she realized the implications of this truth.

And now she was suddenly uncomfortable.

"I thought you were dead." He said, catching her attention.

Dead?

He thought…she had died?

"What…are you talking about?" She asked, confusing apparent in her voice.

Sidon pulled his head away so that he could gaze at her, and she didn't miss the forlorn expression he gave her.

"The day of the Calamity's return…" He started, and her stomach seemed to fall once she realize where this was going. "…when my sister, Mipha, went off to pilot Vah Ruta, a stray Guardian entered Zora's Domain and attack everything. The soldiers did what they could to fend it off until my father's intervention put a stop to the onslaught. But then the Guardian shot a beam dangerously close to wear you stood."

Sophia clearly remember that day as if it were yesterday, and from the sounds of it so did Sidon. She could still remember the fear she felt hanging from the ledge for dear life with the lake below her.

"I found you hanging from the destroyed ledge. You told me to get help, but by the time I returned…" He trailed off.

"…I was already gone." She finished a moment later.

Sidon nodded, confirming her words before averting his gaze.

"The soldiers searched the lake below Zora's Domain, as well as Zora River, but a body was never found. It was presumed that your body had long since left the Lanayru region. That, or something grim might've occurred instead."

She paled as the meaning of Sidon's words weren't lost on her. Just the thought of some creature coming across her dead body in this theoretical scenario was truly ghastly.

"I never forgot that day. I know now of my inability to do anything back then, but that never stopped the failure I felt as a child from being unable to save a dear friend."

So that explained why Sidon reacted the way he did when he realized who she was. And after having heard his side of the story, Sophia couldn't help but be reminded of the dream she had of the crying Zora child she found all alone in an abandoned version of Zora's Domain.

" _Why did you leave, Sophie?"_

She shuddered upon recalling the heartbreaking question, knowing that the state she found him in could've been closer to reality than she initially believed. For all he'd known during that time, she had been dead.

If she hadn't felt bad for the suffering she inadvertently put him through, she felt downright horrible now that she knew the true extent of the damaged she caused. She hadn't meant for this to happen. Without thinking she flung her arms around Sidon's neck, taking the Zora by surprise as she hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Sidon." She told him, trying her best to hold back her tears. "I'm so sorry that I did that to you. I didn't mean to…"

Oh.

Where those black spots in her vision?

Wait.

That meant something, right?

Why was she so cold?

And tired?

"Sophie? Are you well?" Sidon's voice reached her ears, but she was too tired to move. "You're shivering profusely."

Oh…

Ooooooh.

"…Hypothermia…" She found herself mumbling in response.

This seemed to spur the Zora prince into action, and she could feel herself being slightly jostled around as he started walking off, all the while carrying her.

"Hang in there, Sophie! I'll have you at Zora's Domain in no time."

She whimpered quietly when she felt herself being lowered into cold water, but then she was placed on something warm.

"It's alright. I won't any harm to befall you."

That was the last thing Sophia heard before everything went dark.

* * *

ATE: Okay, so we got Sidon in the metaphorical picture here! Are you all happy now? What am I saying, of course you're all happy about that! Anyways, let me know what you all think about this chapter! ;D


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